NEED TO KNOW
- Three climbers died in a fall while descending a steep gully in North Cascades National Park in Washington on Sunday, May 11
- The fall was reportedly caused due to “an anchor failure” as a group of four were rock climbing in the area, according to authorities
- The three climbers were pronounced dead at the scene; a fourth survived the accident and alerted authorities to get help
Three climbers died and a fourth was left with a “traumatic” injury in a fall while rock climbing in Washington.
A group of four climbers was involved in a fall believed to be caused by “an anchor failure” while descending a steep gully in the North Early Winters Spire area of North Cascades National Park. The accident occurred around 11:30 a.m. on Sunday, May 11, the Okanogan County Sheriff’s Office stated in a news release on Facebook.
The OCSO and Okanogan County Search and Rescue volunteers responded to the scene.
Three of the party members were pronounced dead at the accident site. The victims were aged 36, 47 and 63, according to the release. Their identities have not been released at this time.
“The fourth member of the party self-extricated and contacted law enforcement,” the sheriff’s office said. “Snohomish County Helicopter Rescue Team assisted in extricating the deceased members of the party from the technical, mountainous terrain.”
The group fell around 400 feet in the accident, The Seattle Times reported. Okanogan County Undersheriff David Yarnell told the outlet that the surviving climber “sustained internal bleeding and a traumatic brain injury” in the accident.
“He walked back to the trailhead just east of Washington Pass and drove to Newhalem, where he used a pay phone to call 911,” Yarnell said. “He didn’t realize he had as significant of internal injuries as he did.” The climber was taken to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle to receive treatment.
The group was rock climbing in the Early Winter Couloir and began descending “after noticing a storm coming in,” Yarnell told The Seattle Times. He reported that all four climbers were tied to the same anchor point, something that he said was not the best method.
Cristina Woodworth, head of the sheriff’s search and rescue team, said following an investigation of the climbers’ equipment on Monday, May 12, that it appeared the anchor point “ripped out of the rock,” per The Seattle Times.
“It seems like they fell through pretty steep vertical terrain for about 200 feet and then about 200 more feet of kind of tumbling, moderate terrain,” Woodworth told the publication.
She added that it took the surviving climber “a number of hours to self-extricate” from the accident site and make it back to his vehicle.
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“The OCSO would like to thank the SAR volunteers and Snohomish County for assisting in this tragic incident. Our thoughts are with the family members and friends of those involved,” the sheriff’s office concluded in their release.
The investigation is ongoing.
PEOPLE has reached out to the OCSO for further comment.
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