Denali sees first death of climbing season

Denali saw its first death of the season Thursday Evening.

A client on a guided expedition collapsed and died of apparently natural causes while ascending the West Buttress.  

William Hearne, age 61 of Fairport, New York, was a client on a

six-member Mountain Trip expedition, which began their ascent on May 1. Hearne collapsed shortly before 4:00 p.m. after his team had hauled gear from their camp at eleven thousand two hundred (11,200) feet to a cache site just above Windy Corner.

The expedition guides immediately began administering CPR, and were soon assisted by two National Park Service mountaineering rangers who happened to be at Windy Corner retrieving gear.  CPR was performed for over 30 minutes, but Hearne never regained consciousness.  Two advanced medical providers on the same NPS patrol arrived in the scene from the Fourteen–two (14,200) camp at 4:30 p.m.

Shortly thereafter, Hearne was pronounced deceased after telephone

consultation with the park’s physician sponsor. While the five team members returned to their camp, NPS rangers secured Hearne in

place for later helicopter evacuation.

A total of one thousand 52 climbers are now registered to climb the mountain.   So far, 8 people have reached the summit.