Reuters: U.S.: Finn dies in ski accident on Alaska's Mount McKinley

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Finn dies in ski accident on Alaska's Mount McKinley May 25th 2012, 01:48 By Yereth Rosen ANCHORAGE, Alaska | Thu May 24, 2012 9:48pm EDT ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) - A Finnish climber has died after falling some 2,000 feet while attempting to ski down a notoriously steep chute on Mount McKinley in Alaska, the National Park Service said on Thursday. Ilkka Uusitalo, 36, fell from an elevation of 17,800 feet through snow, ice and rocks on Wednesday, before coming to rest 60 feet down a glacial crevasse, the Park Service said. One of Uusitalo's expedition partners rappelled into the crevasse but found that he was likely dead, the Park Service said. The second expedition partner summoned Denali National Park mountaineering rangers for help. Rangers found Uusitalo's body, retrieved it from the crevasse and flew it off the mountain, the Park Service said. Uusitalo's death is the second this year on McKinley, North America's tallest peak. A German climber died in a 1,100-foot (335-metre) fall last Friday. The long chute that Uusitalo was attempting to ski, as steep as 45 degrees in some spots, is an alternative to the easier West Buttress route that most climbers use on 20,320-foot (6,194-metre) McKinley. Only a small percentage of McKinley climbers use the chute and most of those who do climb with crampons and traditional mountaineering gear, said Maureen McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for Denali National Park. Descending the route on skis is less common, but is done by a few climbers each year, McLaughlin said. "This team in particular had a lot of ski experience," she said. Uusitalo, of Oulu, Finland, was the 16th person since 1972 to perish while descending that route, the Park Service said. Park records suggest that he is the first person to die while skiing down the chute, McLaughlin said. But there have been other serious skiing and snowboarding accidents there in the past, she said. Weather conditions at the time of the accident were considered good, but the snow at the high elevations had not yet started the softening that normally occurs later in the climbing season, McLaughlin said. "The route was probably more hard packed," she said. "I don't know if I'd use the word 'icy,' but hard, wind-packed snow conditions." The climbing season on McKinley and other snow-covered peaks in Denali national Park generally runs from late April until early July. Usually 1,200 to 1,300 people attempt McKinley each year. As of Thursday, there were 415 climbers on McKinley, McLaughlin said. (Editing by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Eric Walsh) Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

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