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DEM #99-1433 June 30, 1999 |
The unit was contacted by the Pierce County Department of Emergency Management at 9:30 A.M. on Wednesday the 30th of June. Mt. Rainier National Park had requested 6 Mountain Rescue Volunteers to help in the evacuation of two climbers stuck at 13,000 foot level on Liberty Ridge.
Two climbers from Southern California Larry Sverdrup and Michael Matelich had used a cell phone at 4:15 P.M. on Tuesday to notify the Park rangers that they were stuck on Liberty Ridge. The pair had set up camp and placed all of their climbing gear( ice screws etc.) in one Backpack and attached to a picket driven in the snow. The next morning while reaching for or unfastening this backpack they lost control of it, and it went sliding down the mountain.
Park Rangers sent out two teams on Tuesday one to the base of Liberty Ridge, and the other to Camp Schurman on the North Side of the mountain. Due to bad weather neither team could reach the stranded climbers by Tuesday evening.
A call out was made and four TMRU members responded they were: Mike Mixon, Marcus Collins Alan Givotovsky and Jim Andrues. They were asked to meet at the cache at 11:00 A.M. or at the White River Ranger station at 1 P.M.. Their assignment was to climb to Camp Schurman and assist bringing out the climbers if a helicopter was not available.
The weather cleared Wednesday afternoon and a Chinook helicopter was able to land rescuers on the summit. They were able to raise the stranded climbers to the summit and airlift them off Wednesday evening. Our team was turned around when it was confirmed that rescuers had landed on the summit
Tacoma Mountain Rescue |
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