South Sound News

Climber rescued from crevasse on Mount Rainier

PHOTO CREDIT: Wikimedia Commons

MOUNT RAINIER NATIONAL PARK, Wash. — Rangers at Mount Rainier National Park rescued a climber Sunday, the day after she fell into a crevasse while descending from the summit of Mount Rainier.

The climber was rescued from 12,300 feet elevation on the Emmons Glacier, on the mountain's east side, by the park's A-Star B3 helicopter.

A party of three had climbed the mountain Saturday morning and were descending by skis and snowboard when one member of the party, a 24-year-old woman, fell into a crevasse. Park rangers inserted six rescuers to the site, who used ropes to raise the injured but responsive climber 100 feet to the surface of the glacier by nightfall. Two rangers spent the night with her on the mountain while the rest descended with her companions.

On Sunday morning, the A-star helicopter returned to retrieve the injured woman, who was lifted from a 35-degree slope and delivered to a waiting medical unit at the White River Ranger Station around 11 a.m.

The patient has pelvic and back injuries, and head lacerations. She was delivered by ground transportation to Good Samaritan Hospital in Puyallup.