Officials said that a 52-year-old woman had died and her climbing partner had suffered significant injuries after they fell around 1,000 feet from a mountain in Alaska’s Denali National Park.
According to a National Park Service statement, the event happened Thursday night while the two-person climbing team was ascending Mt. Johnson, an 8,400-foot peak situated in Denali National Park and Preserve’s Ruth Gorge.
The disaster happened when the roped climbers were ascending “the Escalator,” a steep and dangerous alpine route on the peak’s southeast face, according to the National Park Service.
At around 10:45 p.m. local time, a different climbing team on the route noticed the fall and alerted park officials, according to the National Park Service.
“The reporting party then descended to the accident victims and confirmed one climber had died in the fall,” the National Park Service stated. “The responders dug a snow cave and attended to the surviving climber’s injuries throughout the night.”
The park’s high-altitude rescue chopper pilot and two mountaineering rangers took out from Talkeetna at around seven in the morning on Friday. The injured climber was rescued by a climbing ranger who was short-hauled using a long line, according to the National Park Service.
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After receiving advanced medical attention, the patient was transported to a hospital in Anchorage after being evacuated to Talkeetna, according to the National Park Service.
The corpse of the climber who died was to be recovered by the park helicopter and two rangers on Friday, but they were “turned back due to deteriorating weather and increasing cloud cover,” according to a statement from the National Park Service.
The National Park Service reported that they were able to retrieve her remains when they returned on Saturday at 8 a.m. local time. Robbi Mecus, 52, of Keene Valley, New York, was identified as the woman.
“We are grateful for the rescue efforts of Denali mountaineering rangers and the two good Samaritans on Mt. Johnson who helped save a fellow climber’s life,” Denali National Park Superintendent Brooke Merrell stated. “We extend our thoughts and condolences to the friends and family of Robbi Mecus.”
