Climber dies from 3,000 feet fall at Denali National Park
A Seattle man who was ascending a climbing route at Denali National Park in Alaska fell 3,000 feet to his death on June 2, the National Park Service said.
Alex Chiu, 41, was climbing along the West Buttress route with two others when he fell from Squirrel Point towards the Peters Glacier icecap. His body was recovered two days later, NPS said in a news release on June 4.
The group was ski mountaineering, which involves climbing uphill before skiing back downhill. Chiu was not using a rope at the time of the fall, officials said.
Denali National Park encompasses more than six million acres of Alaska's wilderness. Mount McKinley, the park's highest peak at more than 20,000 feet, is also the tallest mountain in North America, according to NPS.
Falls are the No. 1 cause of death at the park, according to NPS. Over 120 climbers have died at the park since 1932, a spokesperson told USA TODAY in 2022. Along the West Buttress route's treacherous upper portion, at least 14 climbers have died since 1980, NPS said in 2024.
Chiu's body was recovered two days after the fatal fall and was transferred to the state medical examiner, NPS said.
The two other climbers who were with Chiu at the time of the fall said they lowered over the edge of the peak as far as possible but could not hear or see him. They descended the route to seek help, the release said.
Search crews couldn't immediately reach the site by ground or air because of high winds and snow. Once weather began to clear on June 4, rangers searched the area via an aerial helicopter and were able to recover Chiu's body, NPS said.
Chiu was an aerospace engineer, according to his LinkedIn profile.
In an Instagram post on May 19, Chiu said he spent most weekends alpine climbing before the COVID-19 pandemic.
"When I am in the mountains, I realize I was at my best, I was smart, witty, passionate, and bold," he wrote.
He said he mostly stopped climbing in the aftermath of the pandemic, but in recent years, began growing more interested in returning to the sport.
"So tomorrow I am getting on an airplane to Alaska, in an attempt to climb the third highest peak in the world because I don't want to know what happens to a dream deferred…," he wrote.
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