|
powen
Jun 18, 2004, 7:06 AM
Post #1 of 4
(4087 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Nov 11, 2003
Posts: 201
|
The Seattle KIRO 7 news channel 11:00 PM show from Thursday 6/17/04 reports that two climbers on Rainier's Liberty Ridge are believed to have been caught in an avalanche. Rangers are supposed to be going up tomorrow to search for them, and to help another group on Liberty Ridge that has requested assistance in coming back down.
The two men missing are from Montana and Wyoming. A helicopter sent out for the two men who were due to have returned Monday found signs of an avalanche and what appeared to be a body at around 9,000 ft.
Hope this isn't more of the same bad news from Rainier. I got this off a news report tonight from the Seattle area, so hopefully some more people will be able to come up with more information.
|
|
|
|
|
climbingnurse
Jun 18, 2004, 9:56 AM
Post #2 of 4
(4087 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Oct 30, 2003
Posts: 420
|
Methinks it might not be a good idea to climb Liberty Ridge this year!
|
|
|
|
|
pinktricam
Jun 18, 2004, 12:10 PM
Post #3 of 4
(4087 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Jan 8, 2003
Posts: 7947
|
Here's the latest update:
Posted on Fri, Jun. 18, 2004
Body of Climber Sighted on Mount Rainier
Associated Press
TACOMA, Wash. - The body of a climber was spotted Thursday at the 9,000-foot level of Mount Rainier and a second climber was missing, a Mount Rainier National Park ranger said.
Rangers in a helicopter saw the climber, lying motionless and face-down on the 14,411-foot peak's north side, supervisory climbing ranger Mike Gauthier said Thursday night.
Rangers had been searching for two Montana men, in their 20s, who had been expected back Monday from a climb begun last Friday up the mountain's dangerous Liberty Ridge route.
Heavy snowfall and winds of more than 100 miles per hour pummeled the mountain all weekend, Gauthier said, destroying tents at some of the high camps. Avalanche danger was extreme.
The Montana climbers were described as experienced. One was 29, the other was described only as in his 20s, the ranger said.
Rangers were unable to reach the body Thursday but planned to fly to the site early Friday to check the body and search for the missing man, Gauthier said.
"Having seen a lot of fatalities in the mountains in the snow, one can suppose this person is not alive," he said. "There was no movement, no signs of life."
The climbers were not immediately identified pending notification of relatives.
The body was located in a large basin, essentially at the bottom of a 4,000-foot-tall glacier wall or rock and ice, Gauthier said.
"There was a lot of icefall debris around the body," he said, as well as two backpacks and climbing rope.
The climbers were first reported overdue on Tuesday but rangers were not unduly concerned until late Wednesday because many climbing teams had been slowed by the weather and no descending climbers reported seeing any accidents.
Another two-man climbing party called for assistance Thursday in climbing down, saying they were unhurt but "in over their heads," Gauthier said. Those climbers, also unidentified, have food and fuel.
More than 11,000 people try to climb the mountain every year, according to park officials. Only 200 or so attempt Liberty Ridge on the north side, one of the most difficult routes.
Jon Cahill, 40, of Auburn, Wash., died June 3 after falling 200 feet on Liberty Ridge. Peter Cooley, 39, of Cape Elizabeth, Maine, died May 17 after tumbling down a steep icy slope of the ridge two days earlier and hitting his head on a rock spur.
An average of three people a year have been killed on summit attempts since 1990. The deaths of Cahill and Cooley during summit ascents were the 90th and 91st since 1887, when records were first kept.
|
|
|
|
|
pinktricam
Jun 18, 2004, 11:54 PM
Post #4 of 4
(4087 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Jan 8, 2003
Posts: 7947
|
[This is the latest news on this sad tragedy....condolences to the families]
Climber's Body Recovered on Mount Rainier
Friday, June 18, 2004
LONGMIRE, Wash. — Rangers removed the body of a fallen climber from Mount Rainier on Friday but could not find a second climber missing and feared dead on the difficult Liberty Ridge route.
Rangers planned to continue aerial searches for the missing climber, 29-year-old Ansel Vizcaya, but it was unlikely he was still alive, said Michael Gauthier, supervisory climbing ranger at Mount Rainier National Park (search).
Vizcaya, from Missoula, Mont., works at North Cascades National Park (search) in northern Washington, but was climbing on his own time, Gauthier said.
Gauthier identified the dead climber as Luke Casady, 29, of Stevensville, Mont.
Two others have died along the same climbing route on the north side of the 14,411-foot peak in the past month.
Casady's wife, Callyn Casady, said Friday her husband had scaled Mount Rainier three or four times before but had never taken the Liberty Ridge route.
"He's a very, very passionate person," she said. "A very intense person. He doesn't do anything lightly."
She said she last talked with him at about 3 a.m. June 11. The couple has a 4-year-old son and was to celebrate their fifth wedding anniversary July 3.
Gauthier said Casady's body was recovered at the 9,000-foot elevation on Carbon Glacier, below Liberty Ridge.
Although avalanche danger was extreme at the mountain, the Liberty Ridge route is "in wonderful climbing shape," he said.
"It's a challenging route and an accident on it can be very tragic, obviously, but we're not seeing the intense ice" that would make it especially treacherous, Gauthier said.
The climbers were reported overdue Tuesday, but rangers were not overly concerned until late Wednesday because many climbers had been slowed by winds and heavy snow earlier in the week.
Despite the spate of accidents, Gauthier said he had not seen fewer climbers attempting the route.
"I suspect that some people did turn around, but oddly enough, some people might be drawn to this," he said.
A second pair of unidentified climbers called for assistance Thursday in descending from the 10,670-foot level on the Liberty Ridge route, saying they were unhurt but "in over their heads," Gauthier said.
One was 48 and the other 44, and one was from Fort McMurray, Alberta, and the other from New Hampshire, Gauthier said.
Because of the other search, rangers did not plan to send a rescue team to the pair, who have food and fuel, unless their condition worsened, Gauthier said.
Park officials say more than 11,000 people try to climb Mount Rainier annually, including about 200 via Liberty Ridge.
Jon Cahill, 40, of Auburn, died June 3 after falling 200 feet on Liberty Ridge. Peter Cooley, 39, of Cape Elizabeth, Maine, died May 17, two days after he tumbled down a steep icy slope of the ridge and hit his head on a rock spur.
An average of three people a year have died in summit attempts since 1990, when record keeping began. Casady's death would be the 92nd.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
