The Talkeetna climbing community lost a great friend and a highly respected mountaineer this week. Seasonal Talkeetna resident John Evans, age 54, died on Tuesday, April 28 from injuries sustained in a fall in Snowdonia National Park near his winter home in North Wales. Evans was on a recreational climb with the Ogwen Valley mountain rescue team, a local organization he has been a member of since 1973, when he reportedly slipped and fell over 100 feet while descending in rocky terrain. He was airlifted to a hospital in nearby Bangor, Wales where he succumbed to internal and head injuries.
John enjoyed a longtime connection with the Alaskan military and mountaineering communities, beginning in 1986 to 1989 when he was stationed at Elmendorf Air Force Base as a rescue technician and paramedic with the U.S. Pararescue Squadron. Through the 1990’s, Evans worked internationally as an instructor in survival skills, wilderness studies, and emergency medicine, including over a decade as a professional guide leading expeditions on Mt. McKinley with Genet Expeditions and Mountain Trip.
From 2000 to 2007, Evans was employed as a mountaineering ranger with Denali National Park and Preserve. During his combined guiding and ranger careers, Evans participated in a total of 25 mountaineering expeditions on Mt. McKinley. John’s extensive rescue skills, emergency medical expertise, and cooperative nature were highly valued at Denali National Park, and he occasionally extended his season by working as a park ranger stationed at the Toklat Road Camp.
After his final season with the National Park Service in 2007, Evans returned to the Alaska Range as a mountaineering instructor with Talkeetna-based Alaska Mountaineering School (AMS) in 2008. He was scheduled to return to Talkeetna on May 1, 2009 to work another season as an instructor with Alaska Mountaineering School. Evans is survived by his partner Lynn, his son David, daughter Rhiannon, as well as his parents and two sisters. His loss will be deeply felt not only in the Alaska Range, but throughout many mountaineering and rescue communities across the world.
story and information from Maureen McLaughlin, NPS
