Climber plunges through ‘weak ice bridge’ to his death in Alaska’s Denali National Park

An ice bridge collapsed under a climber in an Alaska national park and sent him falling to his death, rangers said.

A 43-year-old climber from Kanagawa, Japan, was climbing in Denali National Park & Preserve without ropes in the national park on Tuesday, May 17, the National Park Service said.

“He fell through a weak ice bridge near their camp at approximately 8,000 feet on the southeast fork of the Kahiltna Glacier,” park rangers said in a news release. “A teammate of the fallen climber sought help from the NPS mountaineering rangers.”

At about 11:30 p.m., mountaineering rangers at the Kahiltna Basecamp were notified of the climber’s fall. Two rescuers skied to where the ice collapsed with the climber’s teammate.

“One ranger rappelled into the crevasse as deep as possible, confirming that the ice bridge collapse had filled the narrow crevasse with a large volume of snow and ice approximately 80 feet below the glacier surface,” park officials said. “The ranger was unable to descend further.”

The climber is presumed dead because of the amount of ice and snow in the crevasse, as well as the distance of the fall, park rangers said. Officials will determine whether the climber’s body can be recovered in the coming days.

The National Park Service did not publicly disclose the climber’s name.

Denali National Park & Preserve encompasses 6 million acres or land. It’s home to North America’s tallest peak.

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