Mount Rainier National Park – On Sunday, July 16, 2017 three ski mountaineers successfully summited Mount Rainier at 14,410′. Upon their ski descent, one of the skiers suffered a fatal fall of 150 feet into a crevasse on the Emmons Glacier at 12,800′ on the northeast side of Mount Rainier.
The victim’s backcountry skiing partners alerted authorities by calling 911 on a cell phone. Six Park Rangers responded to the scene. They were flown by helicopter to the summit instead of the accident site due to “erratic winds and steep terrain” (NPS.gov). Upon reaching the site, they descended into the crevasse where the victim showed “no signs of life” (NPS.gov).
Unfortunately, the victim suffered traumatic injuries and did not survive. The body was recovered and has been flown off the mountain by helicopter. The other two skiers descended with the Rangers to Camp Schurman.
TheNewsTribune.com and SeattleTimes.com identified the victim as 42-year-old Michael Naiman of Seattle, Washington.
We will try to update this post when more information is available.
On July 3, 2017 a skier fell through a snow bridge over Pebble Creek while descending from Camp Muir. That skier is missing. Read more about this accident mount here.
