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Two Idaho Climbers, Stranded In Denali National Park Backcountry, Airlifted To Safety

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By NPT Staff - May 12th, 2015
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Two Idaho climbers had to be airlifted off Mount Dickey in Denali National Park after getting hemmed in by avalanches/NPS, Tucker Chenoweth

"Widespread avalanche activity" in the backcountry of Denali National Park and Preserve in Alaska stranded two Idaho climbers on a mountain. Fortunately, they were spotted by an air taxi and later taken off the mountain by a park helicopter.

The climbers -- Saxon Spellman, age 27 from Pocatello, and Michael Wachs, age 24 from Idaho Falls -- were stranded at an elevation of 7,500 feet on Mount Dickey after triggering an avalanche Monday evening, according to park officials. The two were not caught in the slide, but it left them with no safe way off the mountain.

After they were spotted by an air taxi -- he saw them waving their arms above an S-O-S they had stomped into the snow -- the park's high altitude A-Star B3e helicopter and two mountaineering rangers flew to the Ruth Gorge. Rangers made a positive identification of the two climbers, who had just activated their SPOT device. Pilot Andy Hermansky was able to land the helicopter on a flat section of the peak, and evacuated Spellman and Wachs without further incident, the park reported.

Mount Dickey is a 9,545-foot technical peak located in Denali National Park and Preserve's Ruth Gorge area. No other climbers besides Spellman and Wachs were observed climbing Mount Dickey that day.

Denali officials say after several feet of snow fell in recent days on the Alaska Range, combined with windy conditions, climbing rangers have "observed widespread avalanche activity in the Ruth and Kahiltna Glacier areas. Following the one near miss on Mount Dickey which took place multiple days after the storm, the avalanche conditions appear to be lingering."

"Rangers have observed the conditions to be widespread, occurring on multiple aspects of the peaks and spanning a broad range of elevations," the park added. "Climbers are advised to exercise caution due to the persistent nature of the avalanche hazard. For ongoing condition reports, climbers are directed to www.nps.gov/dena/mountainblog."

 

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This shot shows the avalanche danger on Mount Dickey/Tucker Chenoweth

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