Denali National Park reports the body of a skier mountaineer who died in a fall on Denali has been recovered. Alex Chiu, 41-years-old from Seattle, fell approximately 3,000 feet from a steep, icy section of the West Buttress route known as Squirrel Point on Monday.
The accident was reported by the two other members of his expedition. Poor weather on Tuesday delayed recovery efforts. When conditions improved rangers set out for the location of the fall and reached the site early Wednesday morning. Chiu’s body was recovered and transported to the State Medical Examiner’s Office.
Chiu was unroped at the time of the fall and the accident happened around the same place where a French climber suffered a fatal fall in 2010. The French climber’s body is still unrecovered. Denali National Park officials noted that this is the busy season for climbing North America’s tallest mountain and their currently 500 climbers on Denali.
Read the full press release from Denali National Park below. Our thoughts are with the victim’s family and friends.
Denali National Park Press Release:
The body of a deceased ski mountaineer was recovered on the morning of Wednesday, June 4. Alex Chiu, aged 41 of Seattle, Washington, died as a result of a 3,000-foot fall from the Mt. McKinley West Buttress climbing route on to the Peters Glacier. After recovery, rangers returned to Denali National Park and Preserve headquarters where his body was transferred to the state medical examiner.
On Monday, June 2, the other two members of Chiu’s expedition reported that the un-roped ski mountaineer fell at a location known as Squirrel Point towards the Peters Glacier, an exposed rocky and serac covered 3000-foot face.
After witnessing the fall, the reporting party lowered over the edge as far as possible but was unable to see or hear Chiu. They then descended the West Buttress route for additional help before proceeding to Camp 1.
Due to high winds and snow, ground and air search was unable to access the accident site until the early morning hours of June 4. Clearing weather on the north side of the Alaska Range provided the opportunity for two mountaineering rangers to depart Talkeetna for an ariel helicopter search to locate and recover the body.
In 2010, an un-roped French mountaineer fell to his death near this same location towards the Peters Glacier. His body was never recovered.
There are currently 500 climbers on the mountain. The climbing season typically begins in early May and ends in early July.
