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Search suspended for Mount McKinley climbers

Foul weather hampers rescue

June 20, 1998
Web posted at: 2:56 p.m. EDT (1856 GMT)
Mckinley

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (CNN) -- Rain and high winds prevented rescuers Saturday from reaching a team of British climbers trying to get off Mount McKinley after three members were injured in a fall.

At least one of the injured men, who was stuck 19,000 feet (5,763 meters) up the mountain, was rescued and taken to an aid station located at 14,000 feet (4,200 meters). He and the two other injured climbers had fallen 300 feet (91 meters) into a snow chute known as the Orient Express.

"Rescue attempts are on hold until the weather cooperates," National Park Service Ranger Kim McLean told CNN. "[It's] raining, high winds are blowing. Up on the mountain, it would be gustier."

The British climbers fell into the chute Thursday while trying to reach the summit. One of the injured men has two broken legs and a head injury. Two Americans fell nearly 3,000 feet (910 meters) in the same chute the next morning.

It's not known what caused the accidents on the 20,320-foot (6,164-meter) peak, the highest in North America. Mount McKinley is about 150 miles (240 km) north of Anchorage.

Fifteen climbers have died in falls on the Orient Express route since 1972, Park Service spokeswoman Jane Tranel said.

"Its notorious for being a place where, if you fall ... you could fall thousands of feet," she said. "Basically there's nothing to stop you, unless you self-arrest," or stop the fall with an ice ax.

The British team is made up of members of the 1st Battalion, Princess of Wales Royal Regiment. The group was on a climbing-and-kayaking expedition in an effort to become the first team to travel from the highest point in Alaska to sea level.



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