Denali National Park mountaineering rangers were kept busy during the weekend with two rescues involving three climbers, one who endured a sliding fall of roughly 900 feet.
On Saturday evening, Alaska Regional Communications Center located in the national park received an InReach notification that two climbers with minor injuries were stranded due to lost gear and damaged ropes on the west face of Peak 11,300 on the Ruth Glacier. Poor weather conditions in the mountains prevented a rescue on Saturday night.
The National Park Service high-altitude helicopter launched at 9:15 a.m. on Sunday with two mountaineering rangers to assess the site and rescue options. The rangers were able to complete a successful short-haul rescue operation using a 250-foot line suspended from the helicopter with a ranger attached. The ranger was able to safely rescue both climbers from the steep technical face and bring them to staging site for assessment. The two climbers were then flown back to Talkeetna.
On Friday night, park rangers located a climber who fell from a 16,000-foot ridge on the West Buttress to the Peters Glacier. A mountaineering ranger was able to evacuate the patient, who had minor injuries, from 15,100 feet.
Tatsuto Hatanaka, 24, from Setagaya-ku, Japan, was climbing with a partner on the West Buttress climbing route on Denali just above the fixed line at 16,200 feet. At approximately 11 p.m., Hatanaka’s partner witnessed his fall from the ridge but could not access or see where he came to rest.
At around 2 a.m. Saturday rangers were notified of the fall. The National Park Service helicopter was dispatched and could see Hatanaka’s location, but cloudy weather conditions prevented the helicopter from accessing the area.
Two mountaineering rangers conducted a ground search from the 14,200 Foot Camp and could get visuals on Hatanaka’s location at approximately 15,100 feet on the upper Peters Glacier. Four more mountaineering rangers were on their way from the 14,200 Camp to assist in the search and rescue. Alaska Rescue Coordination Center had a C-130 fixed-wing military aircraft looking for holes in the cloud ceiling to direct park service’s high-altitude helicopter to Hatanaka’s location. The patient was transferred by Life Med helicopter to a hospital.
