Climber dies falling 1,100 feet on Alaska’s Mount McKinley
General view of the West face of Mt. McKinley in Denali National Park in Alaska.
A climber has fallen 1,100 feet to his death while attempting to ascend Alaska's Mount McKinley, the National Park Service (NPS) announced.
The climber, who was attempting the West Buttress route of Denali, had taken his backpack off while stopping for a break on Friday about 16,000 feet up North America's highest mountain, KTUU reported.
The climber — whose identity was withheld by the authorities until relatives could be notified — slipped and fell while attempting to recover the pack as it started to slide downhill.
He was part of a three-person climbing party from a foreign country, the Anchorage Daily News reported.
The team was climbing ahead of a National Park Service mountaineering patrol, according to the Associated Press.
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NPS rangers said the fall happened about 4:30 p.m. local time in clear, calm weather.
The man landed on the Peters Glacier below, and their body was recovered by an NPS helicopter late Friday afternoon.
The group was not using a guide and the climbers were not roped together, the NPS said.
The man's body was reportedly recovered and flown back to Talkeetna.
Mount McKinley, located in Denali National Park and Preserve, in central Alaska, is the continent's highest peak at 20,320 feet feet above sea level.
There are 336 mountaineers attempting routes on Mount McKinley, with four climbers reaching the summit so far this season, the Daily News reported.
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