Two climbers were stranded Wednesday at an elevation of 19,600 feet on Denali/NPS file

Two climbers were stranded by frostbite and hypothermia in poor weather Wednesday near the roof of Denali National Park and Preserve in Alaska, while another member of their team who had struggled to descend part of the way from the 20,310-foot summit was rescued. 

The incident that started in the dark early hours of Tuesday illustrated the demanding conditions climbers face in trying to summit the legendary peak, the challenges climbing rangers face in attempting rescues, and the camaraderie of fellow climbers who put their lives in danger.

The trio's ordeal began around 1 a.m. Tuesday local time when they sent an SOS message from their InReach statellite communication device, saying they had summited the mountain but were hypothermic and unable to descend. According to a park release, "rangers maintained two-way communications with the team until approximately 3:30 a.m., when the team texted that they planned to descend to the Football Field," a flat spot on the mountain at an elevation of 19,600 feet. Rangers did not hear back from the team after that transmission, nor did the location of the device change. 

Cloudy conditions Tuesday morning prevented the park's high-altitude helicopter from reaching the mountain from Talkeetna, resulting in rangers contacting the Alaska Rescue Coordination Center (RCC) for assistance. At 10 a.m. Tuesday the Alaska Air National Guard launched an HC-130J Combat King II from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, to attempt to locate the climbing team.  

The Alaska Air National Guard Pararescuemen on board the HC-130 spotted two of the three climbers between 19,000 and 20,000 feet shortly before noon Tuesday, the park release said. The third climber was located by a climbing guide near Zebra Rocks at 18,600 feet. Although winds were relatively calm on Tuesday, several stagnant cloud layers prevented the park’s high-altitude helicopter from reaching the climbers safely, it added.

At 5 p.m. Tuesday the park helicopter pilot and a mountaineering ranger took advantage of a clearing trend and made a second flight attempt of the day to the upper mountain. Although Denali’s summit was in clouds, the helicopter was able to reach the 14,200-foot camp. 

Around 9 p.m., the park helicopter pilot and ranger attendant made their third attempt of the day to reach the distressed climbers on the upper mountain. "By that point, one of the three climbers had made their way down to the 17,200-foot high camp with severe frostbite and hypothermia. A guided party initially assisted the patient until transferring care to an NPS ground team who had ascended to high camp from 14,200-feet to support the rescue effort," the park release said.

At 10:15 pm, the park helicopter pilot flew to the 17,200-foot camp, picked up the ailing patient, then flew to the 7,200-foot Kahiltna Basecamp to refuel. As clouds began to build up again on the upper mountain, the park helicopter and rescue crew returned to Talkeetna with the one critical patient and transferred care to a LifeMed helicopter.

Meanwhile, an experienced expedition guide on the upper mountain had diverted significant time to assist and provide care to the two non-ambulatory climbers at the Football Field, the park release said. However, when the clouds moved back in late Tuesday night, the guide was forced to return to the 17,200-foot high camp for his own safety and for the safety of his team. 

As of Wednesday morning, rescuers were waiting for clouds and windy conditions to dissipate on the upper mountain before either a ground team or aviation resources could safely return to the Football Field to rescue the two remaining climbers.

In an unrelated incident, the Park Service mountaineering patrol based at 14,200 feet had been treating a team of two climbers with frostbite injuries at the camp’s medical tent for multiple days. When the park helicopter was able to reach that camp Tuesday evening, it was used to evacuate the two frostbite victims to Talkeetna. The more severely injured patient was transferred to a LifeMed air ambulance for advanced care.  

Memorial Day weekend is the start of the busiest two weeks of the Denali mountaineering season. As of Wednesday morning, there were 506 climbers attempting climbs on Denali. So far this season, an additional 117 climbers have come and gone, 17 of whom reached the mountain’s summit, equating to a 15 percent summit rate. One climber died earlier this month in a fall while trying to reach the summit of Denali via the West Buttress route.