Rangers rescue all 4 climbers stranded on Mt. Rainier

A group of climbers stranded on Mount Rainier’s Liberty Cap since Monday have been rescued by park rangers.

Officials took advantage of a “window of improved visibility” Thursday to fly over with a helicopter. Around 9:15 a.m., the helicopter was able to land and fly them off the mountain in two groups. All four were rescued shortly after 10 a.m.

They were just below Liberty Cap Monday, when high winds started to pick up and blew away their tents and some of their critical survival gear. Mount Rainier’s communication center received reports of the stranded climbers Monday afternoon. The area is one of the more remote and challenging areas in the park, hence the relative difficulty in mounting a rescue mission this week.

Search-and-rescue helicopters spotted the hikers Monday evening. The climbers signaled to the chopper for help, but winds were so severe they had to turn back. Ultimately, they were rescued roughly a half mile away from that original location.

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“Unfortunately, gusts of 30 miles per hour made rescue impossible using short haul techniques,” Bacher said. “A backup plan to drop equipment to the climbers was thwarted by the same conditions. Supplies were finally dropped 1,500 feet below the climbers where flying and weather conditions permitted, with hopes they could descend to it.”

Between Monday and Tuesday, the climbers were only able to descend about 250 feet to a better sheltered area, but they were unable to reach dropped supplies.

“High winds, now 40 miles per hour, again prevented both rescue and delivery of supplies (on Tuesday); the rangers were able to see the climbers,” Bacher said, further noting that clouds had moved in at times, making conditions even more difficult.

Rescue crews tried to return multiple times, but hadn’t been successful. The army, along with a Chinook helicopter, was called in to assist Tuesday. The chopper arrived along with three pararescue jumpers out of the Air Force’s 304th Rescue Squadron in Portland, Oregon, and five members of the second 135th general support and aviation battalion out of Joint Base Lewis-McChord. The military attempted a reconnaissance on their way into the area, but visibility was poor and wind was too extreme.

The Liberty Ridge Route has been closed to any more hikers, due to the extreme danger.

The four climbers began their ascent on Friday from White River Campground. They are Yevgeniy Krasnitskiy of Portland, Oregon; Ruslan Khasbulatov, of Jersey City, New Jersey; Vasily Aushev, of New York, New York; and Kostya “Constantine” Toporov, of New York, New York.

KIRO Radio’s Jillian Raftery contributed to this report.

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