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PMR Assists in Rescue of 3 Hikers on Mount Rainier
Sunday, April 6, 2003
(Updated Monday, April 7, 2003)
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Sunday afternoon, Portland Mountain Rescue joined teams from around the Pacific
Northwest in the rescue of three missing hikers on Washington's 14,410-foot Mount Rainier.
The day hikers had become lost Saturday afternoon in white out conditions while
descending the Muir Snowfield on the mountain's South face. The subjects
had left the parking lot at Paradise Lodge and hiked on foot, but turned around
when weather conditions worsened. They became disoriented on their descent
and ended up wandering on to the Nisqually Glacier, a large ice fall to the West
of Muir Snowfield.
As the weather continued to degrade, the hikers dug a snow cave and ended up
spending the night on the glacier. The cave most likely saved their lives, as
they were not prepared to spend the night.
On Saturday evening, the subjects were able to contact 9-1-1 using a cell phone, but
did not know their exact location and only communicated that they were on Mount
Rainier near the Paradise Lodge area. The dispatcher forwarded this limited
information to National Park Service Rangers, who began to organize a search.
That evening, NPS officials mobilized teams from
Tacoma,
Olympic,
Seattle
and Portland Mountain Rescue units.
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Click to Enlarge
The PMR team is briefed on the search area.
Click to Enlarge
Search teams stage near the Nisqually Glacier in support of the rescue.
Click to Enlarge
PMR member and NPS Climbing Ranger Glenn Kessler was the first rescuer to make contact with the subjects.
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Early Sunday morning, the Washington based rescue teams deployed with National
Park Service climbing rangers to search several areas near the Muir
Snowfield. PMR reached the Park in the late morning and joined the
mission shortly after 12:00 pm.
One PMR member already on the scene was NPS Lead Climbing Ranger Glenn Kessler
(pictured above), who led a team onto the Glacier and was the first person to make
voice contact with the missing hikers. He yelled for the hikers - like he had
been doing frequently during the search - and fortunately received a reply from
nearby. Due to the considerable avalanche danger, only Glenn and a handful
of other rescuers descended to reach the subjects. Though the snow conditions
were less than ideal, Glenn's team was able to lead the hikers out of the glacier.
During this time, the remaining Washington search teams mobilized near the glacier
to provide support as needed. Shortly thereafter, another NPS climbing ranger
led a small PMR team carrying snowshoes and heat packs up to the glacier. The
hikers did not have snow travel equipment, so the delivered snowshoes allowed them
to more easily walk on the deep snow. A second PMR team joined the other teams
at the staging area in support of the rescue effort.
Eventually, the hikers were brought back to Longmire Lodge near the park's
entrance. They were in very good condition.
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