Fatality at Muir

From the Seattle PI:

"Climber dies on Mount Rainier
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

LONGMIRE, Wash. -- One climber has died on Mount Rainier and the national park says two others are awaiting rescue at Camp Muir.

Ranger Sandi Kinzer at Longmire says a helicopter is waiting for a snow storm to clear to land at Camp Muir, which is at about 10,000 feet elevation. Kinzer says one of the survivors has frostbite and can't walk out from the shelter.

Kinzer says the three went on a day hike Monday to Camp Muir when they were caught in a blizzard on the Muir snowfield.
"
Although the headline says climbers, the day hike scenario mentioned int he body of the article seems more likely to contribute to the fatality. Damn, we're stoked on this storm, but the winter and the wilderness are still potential killers. Or, put another way, not being prepared for winbter in the wilderness is a killer.....
seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/6420ap_wa_m...er_fatal_urgent.html

A climber is believed to have died on Mount Rainier overnight after being trapped by severe weather, a climbing source told The News Tribune this morning.

However, Sandi Kinzer of Mount Rainier National Park said park officials "are not ready to declare that there was a fatality."

Rescuers are working to help two other climbers from the party who were suffering from hypothermic conditions, said the source, who asked not to be identified.

A group of three climbers caught in bad weather Monday spent the night on the Muir Snowfield, the source said. This morning two of the climbers hiked back up to Camp Muir to ask for help.

Mount Rainier National Park rescue rangers are involved in the rescue. The climbers are not believed to be part of a guided climb.

www.komonews.com/news/local/19723464.html

Hiker dies on Mt. Rainier

Story Published: Jun 10, 2008 at 12:56 PM PDT
Story Updated: Jun 10, 2008 at 2:41 PM PDT

By KOMO Staff
LONGMIRE, Wash. - A hiker has died on Mount Rainier and the national park says two others are awaiting rescue at Camp Muir.

Park spokesman Kevin Bacher says police received a 911 call around 3:30 a.m. Tuesday from three hikers saying the two men and a woman were stranded on the Muir snowfield.

They had gone for a day hike on Monday, but were caught in a blizzard on their way back to camp. They were able to get into a shelter, but they were still battered by the raging snowstorm.

That's when they called for help, but search crews were not able to begin their rescue due to the weather conditions.

"Conditions were severe," Bacher said. "We had two feet of fresh snow at Paradise (Tuesday) morning and more than that up on the mountain with high winds. At their location where they had taken shelter, there were five-foot snow drifts. It's about as extreme as it gets on the mountain."

Around 7:30 a.m., one member was able to leave the shelter and make it up to Camp Muir and then lead a rescue team back to the shelter near Anvil Rock, a large outcropping at the edge of the Muir snowfield.

Within an hour, all three were taken back to Camp Muir, a staging area for climbers about 10,000 feet elevation. Pierce County Medical Examiners confirm one of the men had died but did not identify him.

The other two suffered from frostbite and hypothermia. Because of their condition, rescue crews are waiting to fly them off the mountain instead of carrying them down and re-exposing them to the cold weather.

Crews were waiting for a break in the weather to get in rescue helicopters. In the meantime, three doctors from their guide services are at the camp monitoring the survivors' conditions. They say they are stable enough that they can wait as long as Wednesday morning if needed.

The three have not been identified, but Bacher said they are couple and a friend, all in their early 30s from Bellevue. Bacher said all three were experienced climbers, with two having summated Mount Rainier before and all three had made several trips to Camp Muir.

Muir telemetry archives show sustained winds in excess of 40 mph starting at 9am on Monday all the way through 2am on Tuesday.  Those are very tough conditions for a descent and would require terrain familiarity and good GPS navigation skills.  It reads as though they hunkered down not too far away from Muir....assuming they were hit hard in white out conditions to be unable to make it back to shelter.

www.nwac.us/products/archive/OSOMUR.2

8pm thru midnight...temps drop below 10 degrees with sustained winds at 60 mph.

2 survivors off the mountain via helicopter, thanks to Ft Lewis!