A Malaysian climber who was stranded for 3 days near the highest of North America’s tallest mountain by a summit attack was rescued Friday, but his partner died, authorities said. A 3rd member of their team was rescued this week after descending Denali, Alaska.
After days of cloudy and windy conditions, Denali National Park and Preserve staff on Friday morning managed to rescue the surviving climber at an elevation of 5,974 meters (19,600 feet), where he and his partner had been hiding in a snow cave since late Tuesday. by park.
Late Thursday, the pilot of a high-altitude helicopter flying within the park managed to drop a bag of rescue equipment near a snow cave and saw a climber waving at him, but strong winds then prevented a rescue operation, the park said.
By the time of the rescue Friday morning, rescuers were unsure whether one or each of the climbers had survived, park spokesman Paul Ollig said by email.
He noted that communication with climbers was partially limited after rangers first received an SOS signal from a three-person team at 1 a.m. Tuesday, indicating that they had suffered hypothermia and were unable to descend after reaching the 6,190-meter Denali Summit (20,310 feet).
Ollig said officials were still gathering details about what happened and the language barrier was a challenge. The climbers come from Malaysia.
“All we know at this time is that the deceased mountaineer died approximately two days ago,” Ollig said by email.
The mountaineer rescued Friday was taken by subway to an Anchorage hospital for extra care and “was in surprisingly good condition, even walking on his own, considering what he had endured,” Ollig said, adding that additional details about him and the opposite survivor won’t be disclosed on the park.
Rangers planned to get better the body of the mountaineer, who later died.
The climbers were a part of a three-person team that each one had a history of climbing on “multiple international high-altitude peaks,” Ollig said. Two had experience on Denali, he said.
A 3rd climber, previously identified as a 48-year-old man, was rescued on Tuesday evening after descending to the 5,243-meter camp. Park described him as affected by severe frostbite and hypothermia.
