Climbers Rescued From Crevasse On Mount Rainier

Mount Rainier National Park (WA)
Climbers Rescued From Crevasse On Mount Rainier

On Tuesday, April 27th, park climbing rangers, assisted by guides from International Mountain Guides and Alpine Ascents International, successfully rescued two climbers who had fallen into a crevasse during whiteout conditions on Mount Rainier. The two fell a distance of approximately 75 feet just below Camp Muir (elevation 9,700 feet). The initial report of the accident was received by a 911 operator when one of the climbers called out by cell phone from the bottom of the crevasse on Monday afternoon. They were unable to provide a location and early indications were that one of the two climbers was badly injured. Rangers began making their way to Camp Muir to stage for early morning search operations. Weather conditions on the mountain were adverse, with sustained 70 mph winds gusting up to 90 mph and temperatures down to 23 degrees (the wind chill was a degree below zero). A helicopter was placed on standby for morning operations. Early on Tuesday morning, one of the climbers made contact with the park on her cell phone. Questioning by park officials provided critical information that lead to identifying their location in the area just below Camp Muir. The rangers were directed to this area, where they were able to locate and extract the two climbers using high angle rescue gear. Both climbers, who were from the province of Quebec, Canada, suffered from relatively minor injuries and hypothermia. As they had fallen into the crevasse with their packs on, the two were able to set their tent up, get into their sleeping bags, and even heat up soup. However, the intensity of the storm required them to continually shovel snow off their tent throughout the night to prevent the tent from collapsing. An MD 530 helicopter was used to fly the climbers down from the mountain, where they were transported to the local hospital and subsequently released. Ranger Glenn Kessler was IC on this operation.