Two climbers rescued from America's highest peak. Remains of third recovered at Denali.
The remains of a climber who’d been missing for days were recovered Friday at Denali National Park and Preserve in Alaska.
“Zulkifli Bin Yusof, age 36, likely died of exposure and altitude-related illness on May 29 after enduring multiple days with minimal survival gear in a snow cave at 19,600 feet on Denali,” the park said in a press release. “His remains were recovered via short-haul by the park’s high altitude helicopter pilot, with an NPS mountaineering patrol providing ground support.”
Yusof and two climbing partners, also from Malaysia, had been missing since Tuesday, when they sent an SOS message to rangers using an InReach satellite communication device saying they were suffering from hypothermia and unable to descend the 20,310-foot Alaskan mountain, according to the park.
The climbers told the rangers they were going to attempt to descend to a flat expanse called the Football Field, which has an elevation of 19,600 feet. When rangers did not hear back nor see the location of their communication device move, they launched their rescue efforts.
Mountaineering rangers made multiple high-altitude rescue attempts with the help of Alaska National Air Guard by air and an experienced expedition guide on the ground.
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Yusof’s partners both survived.
“One partner, age 48, was evacuated from 17,200 feet the night of May 28, and the other partner, age 47, was evacuated from 19,600 feet the morning of Friday, May 31,” according to the park. “Both are recuperating from cold injuries in an Anchorage hospital.”
A dragged-out rescue mission is not unusual for the arctic-type mountain, one of North America's most dangerous summits. “Due to the many environmental difficulties including wind, visibility, altitude, and terrain, it is rare that we or anyone can help in a timely manner should you and your teammates find yourself in need of a rescue,” Denali’s park website states.
Memorial Day weekend kickstarted the busiest two weeks of Denali’s mountaineering season, with more than 500 climbers attempting the challenging multi-week trek this year. This season, the mountain only has a 15% successful summit rate. A week earlier, a solo climber was found dead at an elevation of 17,000 from what park rangers believe was from a fall along West Buttress route, the most popular route to the summit.
Kathleen Wong is a travel reporter for USA TODAY based in Hawaii. You can reach her at kwong@usatoday.com.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Denali climber's remains recovered after days of rescue attempts
