wfinley Posted June 2, 2006 Share Posted June 2, 2006 Anyone know the story behind this? Stranded climbers rescued MOUNT HUNTER: High winds pinned Korean mountaineers. By TATABOLINE BRANT Anchorage Daily News Published: May 28, 2006 Last Modified: May 28, 2006 at 03:22 AM Two Korean climbers were rescued Saturday evening after being stranded near the top of a mountain in Denali National Park for more than 24 hours without food, water or sleeping bags. Whang Cheung Sik and Hong Sung Hyun, both 35, were stuck near the 14,000-foot level of Mount Hunter, according to a statement released by park officials. Rangers learned of the situation around 7:30 p.m. Friday. Details were sketchy because of limited radio communication. As far as officials could initially piece together, the two men were ascending the technically challenging "Deprivation" route on the 14,573-foot Mount Hunter, when Hyun stopped because of a headache, fatigue and possibly frostbitten feet. Sik continued to the mountain's summit. When he came back down, he discovered that his partner had already begun to climb down the route using both of the team's climbing ropes, rangers said. Sik continued down the mountain until he got to a slope too steep to descend without his ropes. At that point, he and his partner were in visual contact, about 200 vertical feet apart, but could not reach one another safely. Their last communication was around 5 p.m. Friday. The men had minimal food and no stove to melt snow for drinking water, officials said. Rangers were in limited contact Saturday with Sik, the climber at the higher elevation. South District Ranger Daryl Miller said that when rangers spoke to Sik around noon, he was holed up in a crevasse to stay out of the wind. He told rescuers through a translator that he was cold and out of food and water, but otherwise OK, according to Miller. The second climber's condition was initially unknown. Winds in the Alaska Range were severe Friday and Saturday, gusting to 60 miles per hour at the 14,200-foot level of Mount McKinley and approaching 40 mph at the 7,200-foot Kahiltna base camp, which is situated at the base of Mount Hunter. Rangers were unsure how long it would take for the winds to die down so they could attempt a high-altitude rescue. Miller held out hope that the men would survive. He said he had seen climbers survive in worse conditions and referred to a 1991 case where a climber got stuck at a much higher elevation on Mount McKinley, close to the summit, with only a chocolate bar and a liter of juice. He was up there in a snowstorm for three days without a sleeping bag. He lost both of his feet to frostbite, but lived. "It's hard to count these guys out," Miller said Saturday afternoon. High winds were forecast into the evening Saturday, but when rangers made radio contact with Sik around 5 p.m., he reported that the winds had died down considerably and confirmed that there was an adequate helicopter landing zone. A high-altitude Lama landed at the site at 6:45 p.m. and picked up Hyun. He was transported down to the Kahiltna base camp for treatment. The Lama then returned and picked up Sik. Both climbers were treated by a doctor. Despite fatigue and dehydration, both climbers were in relatively good condition, officials said. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ivan Posted June 2, 2006 Share Posted June 2, 2006 sounds like those boys had some good-teamwork shit going on! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DirtyHarry Posted June 2, 2006 Share Posted June 2, 2006 Ouch. When we were there a couple years ago there was a Korean party fixing ropes on an overhanging serac apparently attempting to climb the Kennedy / Child route on the Moonflower. They didn't seem to be making much progress. When we contacted them at camp when skiing past one day there only english was "Selac veee-ry dangerous, selac veee-ry dangerous." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nick_kiss Posted December 22, 2006 Share Posted December 22, 2006 My basecamp was right beside Whang's basecamp shortly before this happened. I got to know them pretty well, Whang was a very nice fellow - extremely helpful and generous. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChestBeater Posted December 22, 2006 Share Posted December 22, 2006 Hey Nick, That's really great. Thanks for sharing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G-spotter Posted December 22, 2006 Share Posted December 22, 2006 (edited) If I got rescued and didn't want my real name in the media, I might tell reporters my name was Wang Chung Sick too. everybody have fun tonight everybody wang chung tonight Edited December 22, 2006 by G-spotter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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