April 28, 2010
The Denali Seminar spent their first night at camp near Pan. Point but not without some excitement…Monday evening our team was notified by Mt. Rainier National Park of an accident near Camp Muir. Two independent climbers, attempting to get to Camp Muir on Monday, in near white out conditions, walked off a cornice near Anvil Rock and tumbled into a crevasse on the Cowlitz Glacier. The two climbers survived the night and were rescued early Tuesday morning by several NPS Rangers with backup from two of our guides from the seminar. More NPS Rangers and AAI guides hiked up from Paradise to provide support, but the weather broke enough for the rescued climbers to be flown off the mountain late Tuesday morning.
IMG Guides Jeff Ward and Austin Shannon, who left early Tuesday morning to aid in the rescue, were reunited at Camp Muir by fellow guides Eric Gullickson and Tyler Gimenez and the rest of the Denali Seminar Team Tuesday afternoon. The team spent today doing some training near Camp Muir. The weather forecast continues to be marginal, but that won’t stop the team from their training focus.
Tye Chapman