SEATTLE (AP) — Mount Rainier National Park officials say six climbers are presumed dead after helicopters detected pings from emergency beacons buried in the snow and a debris field that may indicate an avalanche.
Park spokeswoman Patricia Wold told KOMO-TV on Saturday that there's no way the group could have survived. The Seattle Times reports that rescuers found tents, clothing and debris strewn over hundreds of feet down the mountain's sheer north side.
The newspaper reports air and ground searches have been suspended.
Park Ranger Fawn Bauer says the six were 12,800 feet at last contact Wednesday. The station reports searchers picked up the pings at 9,000 feet.
ww.seattlepi.com/news/us/article/6-missing-Mount-Rainier-climbers-feared-dead-5519346.php
Air and ground searches were suspended, four hours before nightfall.
Tents, clothing, and debris were located by helicopter searchers, over Carbon Glacier. The debris field is strewn down the mountain’s steep north side — a pattern that suggests an avalanche or rockslide. Helicopters got low enough to pick up pings from avalanche beacons, buried in the snow, said Fawn Bauer, spokeswoman for the National Park Service.
“They [rescuers] feel there is no chance of survival at this point,” Bauer said. She said climbing rangers conducted a thorough search that included looking into crevasses.
“That is a steep face, almost like an avalanche chute,” she said of the Liberty Ridge route that the six took. The climbers were last heard from Wednesday around 6 p.m., when they reported they would camp overnight at 12,800 feet elevation.
Earlier today, officials said falling rocks presented a hazard for any ground search, and avalanches were occurring today.
http://blogs.seattletimes.com/today/2014/05/six-climbers-missing-on-mount-rainier/
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