On Mount Shasta in California, a day of mountaineering turned tragedy when three climbers fell thousands of feet, killing one guide and wounding two others.
According to the Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Department, Jillian Elizabeth Webster, 32, of Redmond, Oregon, was aiding a couple to the peak of the treacherous mountain on Monday when one of the climbers slid, dragging the other two down 1,500 to 2,500 feet of snow and ice.
When the sunshine reached the recently fallen snow on a region called Avalanche Gulch at approximately 8:30 a.m. on Monday, Webster’s group was above Helen Lake.
‘Right now, the swing from freezing cold to really warm is what makes it dangerous,’ Kreider told the Gate. ‘We got a little amount of snow over the weekend, and it formed this thin layer of ice in Avalanche Gulch, which sloughs off when it warms up, so you have to have really good climbing gear — climbing boots that can really dig into ice.’
A nurse who was climbing in the area attempted to give Webster first aid, but she was unresponsive.
She was transported to Mercy Mount Shasta by helicopter, but she was unable to be rescued.
According to Krieder, the male climber in Webster’s group had brain injuries and a complex fracture in his leg.
Mercy Medical Center Redding has already released him. With a lower leg injury, the girlfriend is still being monitored in the same hospital.
‘It was simply a perfect storm of horrible weather, people on the mountain, and inexperience,’ lead climbing ranger Nick Meyers of the US Forest Service told the San Francisco Chronicle.
‘Even a complete pro would have a difficult time halting or self-arresting under those conditions.’
A male climber crossing Avalanche Gulch at 12:30 on the same day slipped and plunged 1,000 feet down the slippery incline. He was medevacked off the mountain as well, but he is expected to make a full recovery.
The rest of his group went up the mountain, but about 4 p.m., a lady climber in the same group lost her footing and fell 1,000 feet, according to Krieder.
‘Finding her took a couple of hours,’ the spokeswoman told the newspaper. ‘They found her shortly after 6 p.m. and evacuated her to a hospital,’ according to the report.
Climbers should check with the US Forest Service before attempting the peak due to the changing weather conditions.
However, a man climber from Long Beach, California was rescued from the peak on Tuesday.
Climbing leader David Cressman told the Mailonline, ‘We work in an environment where things happen.’ ‘The weather and climbing conditions can change in a matter of hours.’
According to Meyers, the Forest Service coordinates around a dozen search and rescue missions every year, with about one fatality per year.