[at-l] Snow Caves / Cell Phones

[dfaddleton@mindspring.com (David)]

http://www.cnn.com/2002/US/05/29/rainier.deaths.ap/index.html

ASHFORD, Washington (AP) -- Park rangers Wednesday found a man and woman dead on Mount Rainier, apparently part of a group of four climbers who spent a stormy night high on the 14,410-foot peak. 

One person in the group used a cell phone to call for help and was rescued, according to Mount Rainier National Park spokesman Maria Gillett. 

Searchers looking for the fourth climber believed they saw a body in a crevasse before worsening weather made them pull back; they were to return to the site Thursday. 

Gillett said rangers received a call Wednesday morning from the rescued man, who said the group had made a snow cave that collapsed in a storm during the night. The other man became disoriented and fell near 13,900-foot Liberty Cap, one of the mountain's two lower summits. 

The two women were still alive at the snow cave when the rescued man went for help, Gillett said. He climbed down to St. Elmo's Pass at 7,800 feet where he was rescued by helicopter. 

"They were climbing Liberty Ridge, a very demanding, difficult climb on Mount Rainier," Gillett said. 

Mount Rainier, the tallest mountain in Washington state, is about 60 miles southeast of Seattle.