Man falls to death while climbing Mount Rainier with friends
The body of a Canadian man was recovered this week after he fell while climbing Mount Rainier on Monday, the National Park Service said.
Witnesses reported seeing a climber take a "substantial fall" while descending the Disappointment Cleaver route on Mount Rainier's south side, KING-TV reported.
Mountain climbing guides and rangers tried to locate the climber but were initially unsuccessful.
National Park Service rangers located and extricated his body on Tuesday using a helicopter.
The National Park Service later identified the climber as 52-year-old Chun Hui Zhang of Surrey, British Columbia. Zhang was on a private recreational summit climb with friends, officials said.
The National Park Service credited guides and staff from International Mountain Guides and Rainier Mountaineering, Inc. for providing "valuable assistance" throughout the incident.
According to data compiled by the National Park Service, as of 2022, more than 400 people had died in Mount Rainier National Park since government records were first kept. About 25% of those deaths occurred while climbing on the mountain, which is an active volcano.
At 14,410 feet above sea level, Mount Rainier is the most glaciated peak in the contiguous U.S., spawning five major rivers.
