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Eagle Peak Accident


Hiromi

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Anybody know what happened here? I've been up Eagle Peak a few times and didn't really see any dangerous areas.

 

From King5 News:

 

Rangers rescue fallen climber on Mount

Rainier

 

02/16/2003

 

Associated Press

 

LONGMIRE, Wash. - Park rangers rescued a fallen climber early Sunday

morning after he tumbled about 80 feet while hiking on Eagle Peak near

this town southwest of Mount Rainier, the National Park Service said.

 

The injured man, in his early 20s, was taken by ambulance to nearby

Ashford, then airlifted to Madigan Army Medical Center at Fort Lewis, south

of Tacoma.

 

He was in stable condition Sunday night after undergoing surgery for an

injured right leg, a nursing supervisor said.

 

A National Park Service dispatcher said it was not immediately clear how

the man fell.

 

A man who was hiking with him called 911 from his cell phone soon after

the man fell Saturday afternoon, the dispatcher said.

 

Dense vegetation and cold, wet weather slowed down rescue efforts

overnight, the dispatcher said. Using ropes, rangers lifted the man to

safety shortly before 5 a.m.

 

The names and hometowns of the injured man and his fellow hiker were

not immediately released.

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This is the westernmost peak in the Tattoosh range. There is a trail on the southwestern side that ascends a few miles from Longmire to just below the summit. The trail is not at all exposed, but when you get to the top you have a very nice and somewhat exposed view northeast toward Rainier and Paradise. There is a little 3rd class climbing from the top of the trail if you wanted to summit. The above description is only true in summertime, of course. I would guess in winter that you could snowshoe or ski up the same side the trail is on. It seems most likely that this was not a "climbing" accident, but a ski injury or some similar non-climbing related fall, unless someone had decided to climb the steeper side.

Edited by Norman_Clyde
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The last scramble from the trail end to the summit follows a ramp that slopes downward back on to the approach route through the brush. I would have thought more like 30-40' than 80. It's on the south side and the sun leaves a bit of water ice if the snow isn't real deep. It's not technical but I've had to leave a hand line for people that didn't want to follow. Above that, It's possible to trip off the east side but I don't think 80' is nearly enough there and in summer it's just talus quite a ways. So, he might have just slipped on the ramp.

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The accident occured on the north side of eagle peak. the two men were free-climbing and scrambling to the summit on the north side. they had apparently reached the top and one fell on descent, only a few hundred feet above the paradise river. this side of eagle peak has numerous "cliffy" sections, along with steep talus and alder/devil's club slopes. the man was safely evacuated and is fine with only some broken bones.

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