The mountaineering rangers saved one of their climbers on Saturday. He was thrown off the 16,000-foot ridge of Denali late on Friday night.
According to an Denali National Park and Preserve publication, the 24 year-old Tatsuto Hatanaka of Japan fell more than 1,000 feet from Denali’s West Buttress to the Peters Glacier. The climber who was with him witnessed the fall, but was unable to find or even reach the location where he lay to rest.
The Park Service sent its high altitude helicopter to find Hatanaka as well as the Alaska Rescue Coordination Center dispatched an C-130 plane. Hatanaka was found, but clouds blocked the helicopter from reaching him.
Park mountaineering rangers performed to rescue the victims on the ground and a ranger was able to evacuate Hatanaka from a height of 15,000 feet in the early hours of Saturday.
Hatanaka was only afflicted with minor injuries.
