Climbers Missing on Mount Rainier Feared Dead

By: By Eric Zerkel
Published: June 1,2014


 

VIDEO: Missing climbers believed to be dead

Officials told KIRO 7 Saturday afternoon they believe the six missing climbers on Mount Rainier fell and did not survive.

Six climbers trying to scale Washington's Mount Rainier are believed to be dead after aerial searches revealed the scattered remains of their gear beneath the mountain's Liberty Ridge. Park officials said the group likely fell 3,330 feet to their deaths from the 12,800 foot point on the mountain's northwest face.
"There's not a viable chance of survival," park Ranger Fawn Bauer told The Associated Press.
Park officials said that the danger of recovering the bodies from their last known location is too great, increasing the likelihood that the victims might never be found.
"People are very understanding that we cannot risk another life at this point," Patti Wold, a Mount Rainier National Park spokeswoman, said Sunday.
The group was last heard from near the summit of the 14,410 foot peak on Liberty Ridge, nearly 13,000 feet above sea level. The six were supposed to reach the summit on Thursday, then hike down and return to camp Friday.

AP Photo

This photo shows the Liberty Ridge Area of Mount Rainier as viewed from the Carbon Glacier, Saturday, May 31, 2014, in Washington state. (AP Photo/National Park Service)

But the group never made it, possibly due to weather conditions on the mountain Wednesday. Alpine Ascents International, the company hosting the guided tour, said in a blog post Saturday that weather conditions forced the group to turn away from the summit at around 13,000 feet, according to the Associated Press.
Glenn Kessler, the park's acting aviation manager, said "they are most likely buried."
Family and friends of the dead climbers arrived at the mountain Sunday to meet with park officials.
"They're just devastated," Wold said.
Rob Mahaney told The Associated Press that his 26-year-old nephew, Mark Mahaney, of St. Paul, Minnesota, was among those presumed dead. He said the climber's father and brother flew to Seattle on Saturday after learning what happened.
Mahaney said his nephew had climbed Rainier before.
"He just loved to climb, he loved the outdoors, he loved the exhilaration of being in the wide-open," Rob Mahaney said. "Even as a toddler he was always climbing out of his crib. His parents couldn't keep him anywhere — he'd always find a way to get out of anything."
Gordon Janow, director of programs for Alpine Ascents International, said the group was on a five-day climb of the Liberty Ridge route.
The accident would be one of the deadliest ever to occur on Mount Rainier and in the Cascade mountain range. All told, 89 people have died trying to ascend Mount Rainier since 1897, according to the Associated Press.
MORE: Mount St Helens Erupts

4 / 12

A flood partially submerges a house May 23, 1980 in Washington State.(Photo by John Barr/Liaison)