Two women were killed Saturday in a fall from Teewinot Mountain in Grand Teton National Park/NPS, Andrew White

Two women were killed in a fall of about 200 feet from Teewinot Mountain in Grand Teton National Park.

The two, 27-year-old Tyler Strandberg, originally from Raleigh, North Carolina, and 28-year-old Catherine Nix, originally from Port Chester, New York, were climbing the 12,326-foot mountain with a friend, Rebecca Anderson, 26, when they fell late Saturday morning, according to a park release.

All three women were living in Jackson, Wyoming. They were not using ropes on the climb.

Anderson used her cell phone to reach the Teton Interagency Dispatch Center about 11:15 a.m. Saturday to report the accident. She told dispatchers that she couldn't see her friends, and tried yelling to them but didn't receive a reply. She told rangers she was stuck on a small ledge and couldn't move enough to see her friends.

"Three rangers were inserted via short-haul to Strandberg and Nix’s location, a rocky ledge at an elevation of about 11,500 feet located just above the 'Worshipper' and 'Idol' rock towers," a park release said Sunday. "On arrival, the rangers assessed the condition of Strandberg and Nix, who were both unresponsive after taking an apparent fall of 200 feet. They were pronounced dead on the scene by the rangers in consultation with park medical director Dr. Will Smith."

Two rangers then climbed back up to Anderson, who wasn't injured, and readied for a short-haul flight down to the Lupine Meadows Rescue Cache.

The rangers then prepared the deceased for evacuation. About that time, a second call for assistance came in. Doug Lawton, 45, of Alpine, Wyoming, "was hiking on his own in Avalanche Canyon just above Lake Taminah when he accidentally pulled a 'suitcase-sized' rock down on himself, injuring his leg," park officials said. "He was able to move a few hundred feet to a more level location where the helicopter landed and evacuated Lawton to the Lupine Meadows Rescue Cache at 5:16 p.m. He was transported by ambulance to St. John’s Medical Center in Jackson, Wyoming."

The helicopter returned to Teewinot Mountain to fly the deceased to the rescue cache via long-line where they were transferred to Teton County Coroner Dr. Brent Blue. The two remaining rangers were then flown back to the rescue cache via short-haul.

The three women were attempting to ascend the East Face of Teewinot Mountain. The East Face is the typical route to the summit of Teewinot and also the easiest. It is rated a class 4.0 climb, meaning that it consists of exposed rock climbing but is not considered technical in nature. Though the route is frequently climbed without ropes, the terrain is very steep and good route-finding skills, mountaineering experience, and caution are essential. The climbers were well off the East Face route and in much more difficult technical terrain when the fall occurred. They were not using ropes at the time of the fall and were apparently trying to find the proper route.