Mountain climber with no rope plunges 1,000 feet in Alaska national park, officials say

Climbers were 17,200 feet high Monday when they saw another climber without a rope tumble, Alaska officials said.

The 31-year-old climber plunged nearly 1,000 feet in Denali National Park and Preserve. He was on Denali Pass, which has an elevation of at least 18,200 feet, according to the National Park Service.

Park officials rushed to the injured climber’s rescue, making it to him in under 30 minutes. A helicopter was already at a nearby basecamp surveying glaciers when officials received reports of the fall.

“The climber, Adam Rawski, age 31 of Barnaby, British Columbia, was alive but unresponsive due to multiple traumatic injuries,” park officials said in a news release. “With assistance from one of the responding guides, the ranger got the patient loaded into the helicopter.”

Ambulance paramedics gave Rawski “life-saving” medical care until a life flight helicopter could take him to a hospital in Anchorage. He was in critical condition, according to park officials.

Denali is home to North America’s highest peak, according to the National Park Service. Many climbers take on mountaineering in the national park, but it’s serious business.

“It is imperative to your safety and survival that your team is skilled with proper glacier travel, route finding, and crevasse rescue procedures,” the National Park Service said on its website. “Denali is an expedition, meaning that the mountain is almost always a multi-week endeavor.”

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