Report offers details on North Cascades climbing accident

SEATTLE – The group of Seattle-area climbers that died May 10 while attempting to descend a climbing route in the North Cascades made a series of mistakes in the lead-up to the accident that resulted in the deaths of Vishnu Irigireddy, 48; Oleksander Martynenko, 36; and Tim Nguyen, 63, according to a report released Monday by the U.S. Forest Service.

A fourth climber, Anton Tselykh, 38, survived the 500- to 700-foot fall that killed his climbing partners. He was extensively interviewed by the U.S. Forest Service and Okanogan County search and rescue personnel who authored the report.

According to the report, from start to finish, between the composition of the group – they did not appear to have the high level of technical expertise needed on this kind of mixed ice, snow and rock terrain – the pace they kept, and the late time they began their descent, the foursome ultimately put blind trust in the two more-experienced group members and a yearsold piton that proved to be unstable.

The climbers set out to summit North Early Winters Spire shortly after 6 a.m. that Saturday. The survivor, Tselykh, told officials that none of the climbers had a high level of technical experience on mixed ice, snow and rock alpine climbs. Beyond that, officials do not have a strong sense of the climbers’ experience levels. Two of the climbers were more experienced than the others – Tselykh was one of the less experienced.

The climbers began their ascent of snow-covered Spire Gully around 6:10 a.m., before traversing north toward a 40-degree ramp of steep snow. At the top of the ramp, the team began a five-pitch technical rock, snow and ice climb via the Early Winter Couloir to reach the col, or saddle, between North and South Early Winters Spires. From the col, climbers typically ascend the summit of North Early Winters Spire on rock via its south face.

“The team of four climbers successfully climbed the approach and couloir portion of the route,” the report said. But by the time the group reached the col, dwindling daylight and worsening weather factored heavily into their decision to turn around.

An InReach message the team sent to a friend before beginning their descent back down the Early Winters Couloir route confirmed they had made it to the col. The message was sent around 5:30 p.m., according to the report – climbing industry experts recommend completing the route by noon. Climbing accidents are more common in the afternoon, when physical and decision-making fatigue are at play.

By the time they decided to turn around, the climbers had been on the route for more than 11 hours. The size of their group likely contributed in slowing them down, the report said, because “on a route with objective hazards such as Early Winters Couloir, four climbers is considered a large group size” and larger groups tend to move more slowly, increasing their exposure to hazards.

“Group size may have contributed to slow climbing speed, resulting in the team being forced to retreat with a perceived sense of urgency due to daylight and weather,” the report concluded.

Tselykh told officials that the team observed snow flurries, creating concern that a storm could hit. One of the climbers did not have an adequate jacket, and was cold.

Ultimately, a sense of urgency to wrap up the day before nightfall and a fear of impending bad weather might have prevented the climbers from searching for a different point along the route where they could place additional protective gear to avoid rappelling from a single anchor point, the report found.

The climbers began their descent of Early Winters Couloir more than five hours later than is generally recommended. Typically, after climbers reach the summit of North Early Winters Spire, they come down one of two descent routes on the west face, each of which has established rappel anchor stations. But “there are no established rappel anchor stations descending back down the (Early Winters Couloir) route to the east,” where the climbers descended, the report said.

The climbers descended as a single team of four on a series of rappels using two 60-meter ropes. From the third rappel, the first climber to descend was unable to find adequate rock features in which to build another rappel anchor. After another climber joined him, a third climber rappelled to the opposite side of the couloir in search of a better anchor spot. He found a single fixed piton, but was not able to locate additional features in the rock to place protective gear.

Pitons are nail-like pieces of climbing protection hammered into the rock. They have not been widely used since the 1970s. Since the condition of many pitons found on climbing routes today is unknown, it is recommended that climbers avoid using them as single points of protection.

After the first climber down could not find an anchor point, the report suggests that another climber could have searched for options above the climber who had descended and that “it is very likely that adequate rock protection, snow picket placements, or other snow anchors such as a deadman anchor would have been available somewhere within this 60-meter length of the couloir.”

This search, however, would have required the first climber who had rappelled down to climb up to the determined anchor location, which would have added time to the ordeal at a point where the group was racing against daylight. It also might have required the group to rappel from a higher point, possibly requiring an additional rappel to finish the descent, which would also have added time.

Another option, if no rappel anchor point could be found, would have been to use both ropes to create a 120-meter single-strand rappel, which would have required both ropes to be left on the mountain.

Pressed for time, the four climbers regrouped at the piton, where, according to the report, they clipped into two slings attached to the single piton. Using a locking carabiner, they attached their two ropes to the piton for the final rappel to the snow ramp below the couloir.

Tselykh told officials that the team did not discuss whether the piton was solid as a single anchor point. As one of the less experienced climbers, he assumed that one of the more experienced climbers had assessed the piton, according to the report.

A few seconds after the first person began rappelling, the piton anchor failed, pulling out of the rock and causing all four climbers to fall.

In the aftermath of the accident, first responders found a single angle piton that showed “moderate amounts of rust” clipped to the rappel ropes, and no other anchor point pieces. The piton did not break, according to the report. The age of the piton is not known, but officials believed it was more recent than the piton used in the 1978 first ascent of the Early Winters Couloir.

Officials estimated that the team fell 100-200 feet before reaching the snow ramp, from which they fell an additional 400 to 500 feet down the steep slope before stopping just below tree line, slightly above 6,100 feet of elevation. Previously, officials had estimated that the second fall had been around 200 feet.

Tselykh told officials he remembered unsuccessfully attempting to break his fall using his ice tool as he fell, the report states. He then lost consciousness for several hours. When he came to, he found two of his climbing partners’ bodies and was unable to locate the third. He had lost his headlamp during the fall and evacuated down a snowy, 1,000-foot, three-quarter-mile descent with no source of light. After reaching his car, Tselykh drove west on Highway 20 until he reached Newhalem on the morning of May 11, where he phoned authorities to report the accident.

Emergency responders from Okanogan County Search and Rescue, the U.S. Forest Service, and the Winthrop Marshal’s Office responded, locating the bodies of all three climbing partners. The climbers’ bodies were then evacuated via helicopter to the Okanogan County Coroner.

Tselykh was admitted to Harborview Medical Center, where he received inpatient care for brain trauma and other serious injuries for about one week before being discharged.