Can a gudiebook get you killed?

“LONGMIRE, WA -- The terror came at night for four climbers huddled near the summit of Mount Rainier.

The wind blew so hard that it snapped their tent poles. In desperation, they dug snow caves near Liberty Cap at the 14,122-foot level. Then the caves collapsed under the power of the storm.

At least two climbers died, including a man who became disoriented in a whiteout and fell to his death. The other confirmed fatality was a woman. Rangers said she also may have fallen. Rescuers searched yesterday for a third missing climber, who is presumed dead. Rescuers in a helicopter believe they may have seen her body 15 feet down in a crevasse.

A fourth climber, who set out before dawn and descended more than 6,000 feet, alerted rangers and was rescued. Names, ages or hometowns of the climbers were not immediately available.

The unroped bodies of a man and woman were spotted about 13,600 feet up the peak, resting on a glacier about 200 feet from each other. Rangers plan to return by helicopter today to recover the man's body and search for the woman thought to be lodged in the crevasse.

Liberty Caps notoriety often lures out-of-state climbers to the ridge, and parties often need at least four days to climb up the 45-degree ridge and return down by way of a less exposed route. The ascent to Liberty Cap is among the most challenging on Mount Rainier and requires extensive mountaineering experience, experts said yesterday.

Liberty Ridge is the only Rainier route listed in the well-read guidebook "Fifty Classic Climbs of North America." The route is even more challenging this time of year, earlier than when most people who try each year to reach the mountain's summit make the trek. The Park Service warns that a host of dangers await a climber: high winds, heavy snows, avalanches, intense sun exposure and difficulty finding a route.

"I had high hopes for saving someone's life," Dee Patterson, the lead climbing ranger in yesterday's rescue attempt, said after returning from the mountain.

Weather closed in late yesterday afternoon with winds blowing 60 mph and lenticular clouds -- a sign of bad weather approaching -- covering the summit. That forced the National Park Service to call for a Chinook helicopter to bring rescuers down for their protection. The recovery operation was expected to resume today, if the weather improves.

The first word of the incident reached rescuers at 11:15 a.m. yesterday when the climber who went for help met a party of other climbers and used their cellular telephone. That was near St. Elmo Pass at 7,800 feet on the mountain's northeast side.

The man, who fell during his descent and reportedly lost the outer shell to his climbing boot but was uninjured, had set out for help at 4 a.m., said Maria Gillett, a park spokeswoman. "We know they spent the night on the summit. The weather was bad, very nasty," Gillett said. "Their tent poles snapped, and their snow caves collapsed."

The park service began its rescue effort with two helicopters. Five climbing rangers were on the Chinook helicopter, which was dispatched from Fort Lewis and landed on the summit. "It was pretty apparent where their gear was. It was out in plain view," Patterson, the lead climbing ranger, said.

The rangers found no sign of tents. The storm may have blown them off the mountain. Rescuers found the bodies of a man and woman close together. They recovered the body of the woman, but left the body of the man on the mountain.

The clothing on the bodies matched the descriptions given by the climber who alerted authorities, Gillett said. Before the rescue ended, crews also spotted the body of the other woman lodged in a crevasse, near where her two companions died, Gillett said.

Patterson said the day's events left his crew tired and traumatized. "There was nothing else we could do," he said.

The last death on Mount Rainier occurred Aug. 2 when Lawrence Minard, a 51-year-old London-based editor of Forbes Global magazine, died of a heart attack while climbing during a guided ascent. On June 20, 1999, 27-year-old William Tres Tietjen disappeared while descending on a snowboard. His body was found two years later at the edge of the Nisqually Glacier.

The mere fact that the climbers were at Liberty Cap would suggest they weren't climbing novices, though permit information supplied by the group leader indicated they hadn't climbed Rainier before.

Most alpinists who reach Liberty Cap, one of Rainier's three prominent summits, do so via either of two of the mountain's steepest routes: Liberty Ridge on the north side or Ptarmigan Ridge on the northwest side.

Rangers said yesterday that the four went up Liberty Ridge, having applied for their climbing permit Saturday.

On Liberty Ridge, climbers rarely descend via the same route but opt for a less-hazardous route. While most climbers take the Ingraham Glacier and Disappointment Cleaver routes on the south face of the mountain, Liberty Ridge is a more technical course attempted by perhaps 5 percent.

"Those are pretty committing routes. ... There is no way off (the mountain) once you've reached the halfway point," observed veteran Seattle mountaineer Alex Bertulis, who has climbed Liberty Ridge nine times.

Liberty Ridge offers consistently steep and unforgiving slopes of 40 and 50 degrees for several thousand feet, said Mark Gunlogson, operations director of Mountain Madness, a guided climbing company. Many climbers set up a camp about half-way up that route. He said many climbers who take the route think they can do it in three days, but that it usually takes four or five.

"It's a classic — a really elegant route," Gunlogson said. "But it's one that people get into trouble on because it's a long way up and you're isolated from other climbers."

One hazard is that snow at this time of year creates deceptive snow bridges over crevasses, cracks that on Rainier can be as deep as 100 feet and wider than 20 feet, Gunlogson said.

Thirteen climbers have died on Liberty Cap and Liberty Ridge since 1968.”

“That story is the MAIN reason I don't mountian climb. Geez! What where they thinking?”

“kleetn-weren't you on Rainer last summer? I did the much easier camp muir-ingram-disappointment clever route, and that was tough...can't imagine tackling a much tougher route this early in the season.”

“bongofreek, yeah, I attempted Rainier last summer via the same route you did. In fact I was on my way to Camp Muir when the guy mentioned in the story from Forbes Magazine died.

I hope they knew the risks involved with tackling one of the most difficult routes on Rainier, especially this time of year.”

“Laqtis

There are plenty of class 2 and 3 mountains to climb in California where all you have to do is walk to the top! Very Awesome!”

“Doesn't even sound like they were roped in. Looks to be the result of some seriously bad decision making.”

“Too many sports have become "Dew" commercials........it used to be you had to pay your dues, find someone to mentor you, spend years training and learning your craft. .....now, in today's society of instance gratification, people don't want to go through the process of learning or training...you hire a guide to haul your ass up Everest, your first motorcycle is a pocket rocket, you climb on plastic for awhile then go out and try a big wall, you buy some fancy gear and become a ice climber, you watch the movie K2 and become a mountaineer.

These activities take years to learn how to do with some degree of safety, and even then you stand a very good chance of getting killed.... I have mountaineered for over 30 years and I lost 3 friends in separate accidents over a 1 year period, and these folks were pros.

I worked with SAR for over 22 years and during the last 10 years most the of folks that we rescued in the mountains, didn't research the route or current conditions and simply had little or no training...THEY DIDN'T BELONG UP THERE. We coined a phrase....an INS mission, it was when we were "interfering with natural selection".

Sorry if this comes across a little harsh..I just got off the phone with some friends that are climbing El Cap, they are almost 2000' feet up, and the story's they told me about some of the clods that are on the wall would scare the hell out of you....almost no experience and endangering the other party's because of it.

I always feel sorry for lives lost, I feel sorry and respect, for the men and women who risk their lives to save others and I even feel sorry for those who will look for someone to blame for their mistake's or someone else's.”

“MtnSteve:

Will you be my mentor? I'd love to get out on some of the Shasta glaciers. Heading that way anytime soon?”

“What is a gudiebook? Is that like a "goodie book?"”

“thin -

I can do "alk ups". I like the Smokies and such, just those big ones give me the hee bee jee bees!!”

“that is Crazee!”

“kleetn-
we just missed each other. I used RMI, since that was my first serious mountain climb...I think the guy who had the heart attack was coming up the Muir snowfield as we were coming down.

On a perfect day, with little wind and no inclement weather, I still almost got crushed by falling rocks in the "bowling alley."

stories like this one reinforce how much you need to respect the mountain.”

“Rosey....

I don't get up Shasta as much as I would like anymore, age, bad knees and a touch of emphysema has slowed me down the last couple years (the 10 day trips really beat me up now) but I do know a couple of really good climbers that I could try and hook you up with, let me know when you might be coming up this way... if I have the time I may join ya.

Bongofreek has a good point about respecting the mountain, I tell people that when your mountaineering, it's a lot like playing poker, except you are betting your life.... do everything to put all the odd's in your favor and never try and bluff the mountain, she dosen't care.”

“I just heard seven climbers fell into a crevasse on Mount Hood and they believe one is dead.

What a bad way to start climbing season in the PNW...”