Two hypothermic climbers waiting for rescue on Denali, North America's tallest mountain

Three climbers initially contacted rangers from the 20,310-foot summit Tuesday, using a satellite device, and reported they were hypothermic and unable to climb down.

Two climbers suffering hypothermia near the peak of Alaska's Denali, North America's tallest mountain, have been awaiting rescue since the early hours of Tuesday morning, as cloudy and windy conditions have prevented helicopters from reaching them, Denali National Park and Preserve officials said.

Three climbers initially contacted rangers from the 20,310-foot summit at 1 a.m. Tuesday, using an InReach satellite communication device, and reported they were hypothermic and unable to climb down. Rangers maintained communication with the climbing team until around 3:30 a.m., when the climbers said they would attempt to descend to an flat expanse known as the "football field" at an elevation of 19,600 feet.

That was the last transmission from the climbers, and park officials said the location of their device did not appear to change.

Cloud cover prevented the parks high-altitude helicopter from reaching the climbers, so rangers called for assistance from the Alaska Rescue Coordination Center (RCC), and at around 10 a.m. Tuesday, the Alaska Air National Guard launched an HC-130J Combat King II from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson to assist in the search.

The HC-130 spotted two of the three climbers between 19,000 and 20,000 feet shortly before noon on Tuesday. A climbing guide found the third climber at 18,600 feet.

The park's helicopter crew made another attempted at 5 p.m. Tuesday, and made it as far as the camp at 14,200 feet. There, park officials had been treating two unrelated climbers for frostbite for "multiple days," and the helicopter evacuated them. One climber who was more severely injured was transferred to a LifeMed air ambulance.

The helicopter crew made another attempt to reach the three hypothermic climbers at 9 p.m. Tuesday. One of the climbers had managed to make it to the camp at 17,200 feet with "severe" frostbite and hypothermia, and the helicopter picked them up at 10:15 p.m.

After refueling at the 7,200-foot Kahiltna Basecamp, the helicopter returned to Talkeetna with the one critical patient and transferred them to a LifeMed air ambulance.

An expedition guide attempted to reach the two remaining climbers on foot, but due to weather was forced to return to the camp at 17.200 for the safety of his team.

Clouds and windy conditions Wednesday morning prevented aircraft from reaching the upper mountain.

Memorial Day weekend kickstarts the busiest two weeks of the climbing season at Denali, about 240 miles north of Anchorage. As of Wednesday morning, there were 506 climbers on the mountain, park officials said. So far this season, another 117 climbers have completed their attempts, with only 17 of them reaching the summit.

Reporting by TMX

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