Body found Monday on Mount Rainier matches description of missing acclaimed WA climber

Craig Sailor
·2 min read
30

A body matching the description of a missing Spokane mountain climber who once held the record for the oldest American to summit Mount Everest was found Monday on Mount Rainier, according to park officials.

Dawes Eddy, 80, was reported missing last week after he failed to return from a solo climb of the 14,411-foot-tall peak, Mount Rainier National Park officials said in a release Tuesday. He told park officials on May 30 he would climb the mountain via the Ingraham Glacier route and return the next day.

The climb would have been his 50th ascent of the Cascades volcano but he wasn’t heard from again and a search was mounted on June 1 via ground and air.

On Monday, two guides from Rainier Mountaineering, Inc. spotted a body matching Eddy’s description inside a crevasse along the climber’s planned route at 11,500 feet, according to park officials. They notified authorities.

Crevasses are fissures that open on glaciers and are extremely hazardous to climbers. Even if climbers survive a fall, they can quickly become hypothermic from the super cold air that fills the crevasses.

Crews worked Tuesday to bring the body off the mountain, according to park officials. The Pierce County Medical Examiner will officially identify the body.

Eddy gained fame in 2009 when he became the oldest American to climb Mount Everest. The record was soon bested by another, older climber. Another attempt at age 70 failed.

In 1999, Eddy fell 1,600 feet down the Gibraltar ice shoot on Mount Rainier, according to the Spokesman-Review. He was airlifted off the mountain and recovered. In December, Eddy became stranded overnight while climbing San Ysidro Mountain in California, according to The San Diego Union-Tribune.

Eddy said the experience made him “really appreciate being alive” but he had no plans to stop climbing.

“It’s something I just really enjoy and appreciate,” he told the newspaper. “And I’ll probably keep doing it until I can no longer keep doing it.”