Memorial Day weekend is the start of the busiest two weeks of the climbing season on Denali. As of Wednesday morning, 506 climbers are on the mountain attempting to climb. Of the 117 that have already come and gone, 17 have summited.
Rangers received a message from a three-person team on the summit at 20,310 feet at 1am on Tuesday. The message said the team was hypothermic and unable to descend. The climbers later messaged that they planned to descend to the Football Field, a flat area at 19,600 feet. However, rangers did not hear from the team beyond that message and the device did not move.
Rangers called Alaska Air National Guard Pararescuemen for support. The Guard launched an HC-130J Combat King II from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson. Two of the three climbers were located between 19,000 and 20,000 feet before noon on Tuesday. The third climber was located at Zebra Rocks at about 18,600 feet. However, the cloud cover kept the Pararescuemen from rescuing the team.
Rangers attempted to rescue the climbing team again at about 5pm on Tuesday. The helicopter was able to reach the 14,200-foot base camp. The National Park Service Mountaineering Patrol was treating two other climbers for severe frostbite at base camp. The helicopter flew those two climbers to Talkeetna, one of whom was transferred to a LifeMed ambulance for advanced care.
By 9pm Tuesday, one of the three-climber team had reached the 17,200-foot high camp where they were rescued by helicopter and flown to Talkeetna. The climber was suffering from severe frostbite and hypothermia and was transferred to a LifeMed ambulance.
Cloud cover moved back in on Tuesday night, which continued along with winds on Wednesday morning. The conditions prevent rescuers from reaching the two climbers at the Football Field.
