A climber survived a fall of almost 400 feet in the North Cascades, Washington State, in an accident that claimed the lives of his three companions. Despite a head injury and internal bleeding, the man managed to free himself from the ropes, reach his car in the dark and call for help from a pay phone.
The group was descending from the Early Winters Spires when an anchor–possibly an old rock spike (piton)-failed. The bodies were recovered by helicopter in a very inaccessible area.
According to Cristina Woodworth, who leads the sheriff’s rescue team, fatal accidents like this are rare. Many details are still unclear. On Sunday, a team of three rescuers reached the site of the accident thanks to coordinates provided by a GPS device carried by the climbers and shared by a friend of theirs. Once the area was located, a helicopter was called in to retrieve the bodies, one at a time, due to the difficult terrain.
On Monday, rescuers analyzed the recovered equipment to figure out what might have caused the accident. They found a piton still attached to the ropes. These rock pitons, driven into cracks and used as anchors, can stay on the wall for years and deteriorate over time.
“It looked old and worn, while the rest of the gear was newer, so we assume it was a piton that had been left behind for some time,” Woodworth explained.
As experts explain, climbers secure themselves with ropes to these anchors to stop any falls, and they usually use backup systems. Joshua Cole, mountain guide and co-owner of North Cascades Mountain Guides, who has been frequenting the area for 20 years, said it is rare to rely on a single piton for the descent.
“We still don’t know for sure what happened that night,” Cole added. Woodworth concluded, “We hope, if possible, to get more information from the survivor.”
