Three rock climbers tragically fell to their deaths on Sunday in Washington's North Cascades National Park when the anchor point they were using failed, authorities say. The three men ages 36, 47, and 63, all hailed from Renton, Washington, per USA Today. They were with a fourth man, rappelling a steep gulley at the Early Winter Spires rock formations, when the anchor holding them failed. Okanogan County Undersheriff David Yarnell said they fell 200 feet down a sheer rock face, then tumbled another 200 feet across a snow-covered chute, per the New York Times.
The fourth man survived the fall and went in search of help. But that meant hiking back to a vehicle and driving 60 miles to a pay phone, which reportedly took several hours. The survivor was transported to a hospital in Seattle with a traumatic brain injury and internal bleeding, per the Seattle Times. "He didn't realize he had as significant of internal injuries as he did," Yarnell tells the outlet. Authorities responded to the scene in the North Cascades around 11:30am local time, ultimately using a helicopter to recover the three bodies.
Authorities are now investigating the possibility of an equipment failure as the climbers' anchor point, or piton, "broke loose," Yarnell tells the New York Times. It's unclear if the climbers were using their own anchor point or a preexisting one. All four men were tied to the same anchor point, which is "not preferred," Yarnell says, per the Seattle Times. He adds the climbers had turned back and were descending the Early Winter Couloir, a line that splits the South and North Early Winter Spires, after noticing a storm rolling in. (More rock climbing stories.)
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