*** Two Fatalities and a serious injury on Mt. Rainier ***

From: kirka2@ix.netcom.com (Kirk Gorman)
Newsgroups: rec.climbing
Subject: Mount Rainier Accident 8/20
Date: 21 Aug 1995 20:06:20 GMT

SEATTLE (Reuter) - Just a week after Mount Rainier claimed the lives of two
park rangers on a rescue mission, two more climbers fell to their deaths and
a third was critically injured, officials said Monday.

The three men, who were roped together, fell more than 2,000 feet about
2 p.m. Sunday from the edge of Winthrop Glacier at 13,400 feet. They came
to rest on a snow bridge over a crevasse at 11,200 feet.

The Pierce County Coroners' Office identified the two dead climbers as Scott
Porter, 32, and Karl Ahrens, 35, both of the Seattle suburb of Redmond. The
injured man was airlifted to Madigan Army Medical Center in Tacoma, where he
was in critical condition with serious head injuries.

Officials said the weather was clear at the time of the accident although
conditions were icy. Bill Larson, assistant chief ranger at Mount Rainier
National Park, said a rainstorm two weeks ago brought fall climbing
conditions -- which means slippery, icy slopes -- to the mountain a little
earlier than usual this year.

The deaths came exactly a week after two park rangers died trying to rescue
an injured climber on the 14,410-foot mountain 75 southeast of Seattle.

Prior to that there had been no climbing fatalities on the mountain since
1993. 

Reut15:40 08-21-95

                     ---------------------------------