The body of the ski mountaineer who fell to his death on Denali on Monday has been recovered. Photo: National Park Service
The body of a ski mountaineer who fell 3,000 feet to his death on Denali on June 3 has been recovered.
According to a statement from The National Park Service, 41-year-old Alex Chiu of Seattle, Washington, fell from a point on the mountain’s West Buttress route called Squirrel Point. Chiu was on an expedition with two others to the Peters Glacier when the accident occurred. He was apparently un-roped at the time of the fall.
After Chiu fell down the exposed cliff face, his partners attempted to find him, but weren’t able to do so, despite lowering themselves over the edge as far as possible. Rescuers were deterred by high winds and snow until early Wednesday morning.
“Clearing weather on the north side of the Alaska Range provided the opportunity for two mountaineering rangers to depart Talkeetna for an aerial helicopter search to locate and recover the body,” the Park Service wrote.
Chiu’s body has been moved to the local medical examiner’s office. According to the Park Service, this is the second death that has occurred at the same location. The first was an un-roped French mountaineer in 2010 whose body was never recovered.
