Three climbers from suburban Seattle were killed in a fall on Sunday when their equipment failed while rappelling down a steep gully in North Cascades national park in Washington state, sheriff’s officials said.
A party of four climbers was descending the gully in the area of North Early Winters Spire when the fall happened. Sheriff’s officials presume the cause was an anchor failure but are still investigating. Three of the climbers – ages 36, 47 and 63 – were killed at the scene while the fourth person freed themselves and walked back to the trailhead then drove to a pay phone to call for help.
Sheriff’s personnel and county search and rescue volunteers responded to the accident late Sunday morning about 16 miles (26km) west of Mazama in an area of rock formations that are popular with climbers, the Okanogan county sheriff’s office said in a social media post on Monday.
The deadly and drug-resistant fungus Candida auris is under close surveillance as health experts work to calm its spread.
