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Helicopter Rescues Climber on Mt. Rainier

Posted on: Monday, 17 May 2004, 06:00 CDT

SEATTLE - A seriously injured climber who had been stranded on Mount Rainier was rescued Monday evening after an Oregon National Guard helicopter took advantage of a sudden break in the clouds to retrieve him.

Earlier in the day, two national park rangers reached the climber and his companion by foot, but decided to put off a rescue attempt until Tuesday because of the steep terrain and snow.

The injured man was being flown to a Seattle hospital.

The climbers were stranded at 12,300 feet since Saturday on a 45-degree slope with steep and rocky terrain above and below them, Mount Rainier National Park spokeswoman Lee Taylor said. "There couldn't be a worse place on the mountain to try to do a rescue; it's very extreme terrain," she said.

Peter Cooley, 39, of Cape Elizabeth, Maine, fell 30 feet early Saturday on Liberty Ridge - one of the most difficult routes up the 14,410-foot mountain. His climbing partner, Scott Richards, 42, also of Cape Elizabeth, was able to reach him, set up a tent and call for help on a cell phone.

Cooley was in stable condition Monday afternoon but was exhibiting signs of a life-threatening head injury and also appeared to have shoulder and leg injuries, park ranger Patti Wold said. He was in and out of consciousness, incoherent and agitated.

"When our climbing rangers approach him, he's able to sense that they are not his climbing partner, and he becomes combative," Wold said.

The rangers, specialists in mountain rescues, set out Saturday afternoon but were held up by poor visibility. A helicopter was able to drop supplies to the climbers Sunday night, including a radio, food, water, warm clothing and sleeping bags.

Richards had been keeping Cooley hydrated by dripping water into his mouth.

An Oregon National Guard helicopter also tried to reach the stranded men Monday morning but failed due to heavy cloud cover. Eighteen rescuers were on the mountain.

Both men were described as experienced climbers who had scaled Rainier before. In 2001, they tried to climb Liberty Ridge, but bad weather forced them to take an easier route.

Cooley once worked on a search-and-rescue team on Mount McKinley in Alaska and climbed that mountain solo. This was his fourth ascent of Mount Rainier.

"He's an excellent mountain climber," said Cooley's aunt, Kristi Witker of New York. "All of us wanted him to stop mountain climbing, but he's very skilled at it, and it's his passion."

Richards had climbed Mount Blanc and Mount Chamonix in the Alps.

"These are experienced climbers in peak condition and this trip wasn't taken lightly, and the proof of that is the fact that Scott was able to get to Peter and protect him and they're hanging in there," a friend, Virginia Hanson of Cape Elizabeth, told the Portland (Maine) Press Herald.

Mount Rainier, about 60 miles southeast of Seattle in the Cascade range, is a popular destination for hikers and mountaineers.

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