Four hikers blocked by high winds at 13,500 feet elevation at Mount Rainier

The authorities were on their third day Wednesday to rescue four hikers on the same route from Mount Rainier to Washington. A man was killed and two others were injured in a landslide last week, the National Park Service announced.

The men started their climb from the White River Campground on Friday. They were reportedly stranded Monday and would need help about 13,500 feet under Liberty Cape, on the north side of Mount Rainier, about 75 km southeast of Seattle.

The men, who reported assistance, were spotted Monday afternoon by a reconnaissance helicopter, but were unable to continue because of strong winds that took away or destroyed their tent and other equipment. announced the park service. The winds rendered an immediate rescue impossible, as well as a back-up plan to drop equipment to the climbers, the agency said.

Efforts to reach men by air were again thwarted on Tuesday due to winds reaching 40 mph, the park's service said.

Even a Chinook helicopter from the Lewis-McChord Joint Base was not able to reach men twice Tuesday, first because of the cloud cover and then because of the wind, he declared.

"The rangers are now preparing for many rescue operations involving air and ground operations, as conditions permit," said the park service in the afternoon of Wednesday. "The unstable weather forecast for the next few days should continue to limit air operations."

The Liberty Ridge road was closed indefinitely Wednesday for safety reasons for rescue teams and the public, he added.

The men were identified as Yevgeniy Krasnitskiy of Portland, Oregon; Ruslan Khasbulatov of Jersey City, New Jersey; Vasily Aushev of New York; and Constantine Toporov of New York. At least two people have been described as experienced mountaineers, said the parks department.

The difficult and technically dangerous road on Liberty Ridge is where 45-year-old Arleigh William Dean of Alaska was killed and two other hikers were injured when they were caught in a landslide on May 29th. Three other hikers were not injured.

A spokesman for Mount Rainier National Park said last week that in recent years, the number of deaths on the mountain is on average two.