Two Climbers Fall to Their Deaths on Alaska's Mt. McKinley

May 18, 2007 — -- Two Washington state climbers fell 1,900feet to their deaths during a descent of Mount McKinley, NorthAmerica's highest mountain, Denali National Park and Reserveofficials said Friday.

Mizuki Takahashi, 36, of the Seattle suburb of Lake Forest Park,Wash., was pronounced dead by a rescue team after the Thursdaynight fall. Her climbing partner, 27-year-old Brian Massey of NorthBend, Wash., was taken back to a ranger tent for treatment butnever regained consciousness and died Friday.

A third team member had stayed behind at a lower elevation, parkservice spokeswoman Kris Fister said.

Fister said members of a mountaineering ranger patrol at the17,200-foot level witnessed the fall that began just shy of the19,000-foot mark.

The roped pair fell to an elevation level just below where thepatrol was stationed.

The two were likely experienced climbers to be scaling the UpperWest Rib, Fister said.

Massey was a two-year firefighter for the Kent, Wash., FireDepartment, said Kent Fire Department spokesman Capt. Kyle Ohashi.

As of mid-afternoon Friday, both climbers remained on themountain until flying conditions permit a recovery, Fister said.

It was the first climbing fatality on the 20,320-foot peak sinceMay 2005 when two Ohio men died, Fister said.

Massey served in a 155-firefighter department that covers 58square miles. Even after two years of service, Massey's work wasfelt department wide, Ohashi told The Associated Press.

Ohashi touted Massey's work as a teacher in the department'scommunity emergency response team classes, which are designed tohelp civilians become more self-sufficient during the first 24 to48 hours of a disaster.

He also recalled Massey as tech-savvy firefighter who helped thedepartment convert data for street and building maps to mobilecomputers. This, Ohashi said, made responses safer and moreefficient.

"He was still doing a lot of learning, but he took it uponhimself to do a lot of other things," Ohashi said. "And thosewere all voluntary. He chose to help the department in so manyother ways."