Accident on South Early Winter Spire?

[Jason_Martin]

Rumor is that there was an accident on SEWS on May 11. Anybody have any info?

 

Jason

[Berg Schrund]

From 'Okanogan County Sheriff Office' FB page:

 

Okanogan County Sheriff’s Office personnel and Okanogan County Search and Rescue volunteers responded to a climbing accident in the area of North Early Winters Spire off of State Route 20, approximately 16 miles west of Mazama, WA, at approximately 1130 on May 11, 2025.

A party of four climbers from Renton, WA, were involved in a fall while descending a steep gully. Three individuals were confirmed deceased at the accident site. The fourth member of the party self-extricated and contacted law enforcement.

Snohomish County Helicopter Rescue Team assisted in extricating the deceased members of the party from the technical, mountainous terrain. The presumed cause of the accident is an anchor failure while rappelling, with more investigation still ongoing.

The Okanogan County Sheriff’s Office would like to thank the SAR volunteers and Snohomish County for assisting in this tragic incident. Our thoughts are with the family members and friends of those involved.

 

I believe they were attempting to climb the EWC. Tragic.

Edited Monday at 06:03 PM by Berg Schrund

[JasonG]

Yes, sounds like anchor failure on EW couloir?

Condolences to the friends and family impacted by this.....any details that those in the know can share would be appreciated to better understand what happened and what we can learn from the accident.

[olyclimber]

Dang thoughts to all involved and especially the survivor.  That is so tragic.

[KaskadskyjKozak]

Was this the couloir route or another one?

 

[JasonG]

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/3-wa-rock-climbers-die-1-hurt-in-north-cascades-climbing-accident/

This is accurate from what I heard from those that were involved with the recovery

[Weekend_Climberz]

Fuck, just saw this too.

[Bronco]

Someone on FB linked this go fund me page for one of the climbers. RIP. 

https://www.spotfund.com/story/f2174a23-36a7-4434-bf55-853dce5d17af?fbclid=IwY2xjawKQmSxleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBicmlkETFxdHdMcjI4N3VEakpZSmN0AR6AS8Hodhucn9wrKe56lQ9ozehQodGwuPuueXkVs6vLvtpmpnYOnX38S1Ogfg_aem_wqvs2a2IOK7RronyZfN5sQ

 

 

 

[AlpineK]

On 5/12/2025 at 11:30 AM, KaskadskyjKozak said:

Was this the couloir route or another one?

 

The report said North Early Winter Spire as opposed to South Early Winter Spire.  Generally the Southern Spire is more frequently climbed.

[JasonG]

@AlpineK and @KaskadskyjKozak....Accident was in the Early Winter's Couloir....AKA the couloir between NEWS and SEWS, accessed from the hairpin.

And, it was caused by the failure of a single piton anchor which all 4 were clipped to as they descended the route after turning around partway up.

[KaskadskyjKozak]

2 hours ago, JasonG said:

@AlpineK and @KaskadskyjKozak....Accident was in the Early Winter's Couloir....AKA the couloir between NEWS and SEWS, accessed from the hairpin.

And, it was caused by the failure of a single piton anchor which all 4 were clipped to as they descended the route after turning around partway up.

Thanks Jason!  Sometimes these reports get things wrong and I was assuming this was the SW couloir of SEWS (quite popular).  I'm not at all familiar with the EWC route. 

This was a very tragic accident.