PORT ANGELES — A 28-year-old climber has been killed in a fall on Mount Olympus.
Richard “Grey” Liston of Portland, Ore., was climbing with a companion near the summit on the east face of the 7,980-foot mountain in Olympic National Park on Saturday morning when he fell to an area of rocks and glacial ice below, said Barb Maynes, spokeswoman for the park.
“Other climbers saw it happen and were able to call it in,” Maynes said Sunday.
Emergency services got the call around 7:45 a.m. Saturday.
One of those climbers, a paramedic, reached the location where Liston had landed and reported that Liston had died of his injuries, Maynes said.
Park rangers were flown via helicopter to Snow Dome on Mount Olympus and climbed through melting and challenging snow conditions to reach and recover Liston’s body late yesterday afternoon.
Snow on the glaciers can collapse in changing temperature conditions, Maynes said.
NorthWest Helicopters of Olympia flew Liston’s body to the base of the mountain by about 8 p.m. Saturday, according to Tami Uttecht, wife of the helicopter pilot, Doug Uttecht of Bonney Lake.
A representative of the Jefferson County coroner’s office was waiting in a parking lot at a staging area at the foot of Mount Olympus, she said.
Mount Olympus is the tallest and most prominent mountain in the Olympic Mountains and is a central feature of the national park.
The ascent to its summit is rated as a moderate Grade Two climb on the American Alpine Club’s six-grade classification system, six being the most difficult.
Located 20 air miles southwest of the town of Forks, the mountain is in a remote area of the national park.
Climbing Mount Olympus often is a five-day trek requiring a wilderness camping permit and two days to hike in through the Hoh Rain Forest to a base camp at Glacier Meadows, at the toe of the Blue Glacier at the mountain.
The ascent involves glacier mountaineering, snow climbing and rock scrambling.
The mountain first was successfully climbed in 1907. Scaling the mountain is considered a rite of passage for many Northwest mountaineers.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5070, or at arwyn.rice@peninsuladailynews.com.
