Despite “significant injuries”the surviving climber used a sat device to alert park officials and moved away from the debris to wait for rescue. The ice hit the men, who were roped together, at the start of their climb of the west face of Reality Ridge.
The park service’s high-altitude helicopter transported rangers to the accident site and the injured climber was taken to a safer spot on Ruth Glacier. Rangers administered emergency medical treatment before the flight back to Talkeetna Airport. The climber was transferred to an air ambulance.