Glacier Park Workers Killed In Fall From Rainbow Peak

Two seasonal workers in Glacier National Park were found dead Saturday on a mountainside after failing to return from a one-day climb.

Rangers reported that the men were climbing a steep, snow-covered chimney on the north face of Rainbow Peak, in the northwest corner of Glacier in the Bowman Lake drainage. Its elevation is 9,891 feet, and rangers indicated they were close to the peak when they fell, park spokeswoman Amy Vanderbilt said.

They were identified as Mark Robison, 24, of Columbia Falls, Mont., and Chris Foster, 24 of Whitefish, Mont.

‘They were knowledgeable and very experienced climbers and mountaineers,” Vanderbilt said.

What caused their fall was not known Saturday, she said.

Vanderbilt said the men began the climb on Thursday, intending to return the same day, and the search for them began Friday afternoon.

There was evidence of a rockslide or avalanche near where the bodies were found, but that was not believed to be the cause of the men’s fall, she said. The men were not roped together, but were wearing crampons - spiked attachments for their feet - and using ice axes, she said.

“We do not recommend rock climbing in Glacier National park due to the unstable and very dangerous nature of the rock found in this region,” Vanderbilt said. “It is predominantly sedimentary, not mainly the granite you find in the Tetons. Footing can be precarious.”

These were the first climbing deaths in Glacier this year.