One climber is dead and another seriously injured after a two-person team fell an estimated 1,000 feet off Mount Johnson at Denali National Park in Alaska on Thursday night, officials said.
The two women were roped while ascending a steep route of mixed rock, ice and snow known as “the Escalator” on the 8,400-foot peak, the National Park Service (NPS) said in a news release.
The climber who died in the fall was identified as 52-year-old Robbi Mecus, of Keene Valley, New York. The surviving climber was identified as a 30-year-old woman from California.
Another climbing party on the peak witnessed Mecus and her partner fall, according to officials. The mountaineers alerted park rangers before descending to the fallen climbers.
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Mecus and her climbing partner fell about 1,000 feet while ascending a route known as “the Elevator” on Mount Johnson at Denali National Park in Alaska. (National Park Service)
After the team confirmed that Mecus had died, they dug a snow cave where they tended to the surviving climber and tried to keep her warm throughout the night, NPS said.
On the following morning, Denali’s high altitude helicopter pilot and two mountaineering rangers rescued the injured climbing partner using a short-haul rescue technique.
“We are grateful for the rescue efforts of Denali mountaineering rangers and the two good Samaritans on Mt. Johnson who helped save a fellow climber’s life,” Denali National Park Superintendent Brooke Merrell said. “We extend our thoughts and condolences to the friends and family of Robbi Mecus.”
A view of Denali in Denali National Park, Alaska. A climber died on Mount Johnson within the park on Thursday after falling about 1,000 feet, parks officials said. (Lance King/Getty Images)
The surviving climber was then airlifted to a hospital in Anchorage. No update on her current condition was immediately available.
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The pilot and rangers were unable to return to the mountain to recover the body of Mecus on Friday due to deteriorating weather conditions.
When conditions cleared on Saturday, the helicopter team returned to Mount Johnson and recovered her body.
Mecus, who died in Denali National Park, was a New York State forest ranger. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Mecus was a forest ranger for the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s (DEC) Adirondack region for 25 years, interim DEC Commissioner Sean Mahar said in a statement Saturday.
“Robbi was an incredible, passionate Ranger and I know this loss will not come easy,” Mahar wrote in a post on X. “My official statement is here though words cannot fully capture a legacy of courage, compassion and service. RIP Ranger.”