Climber Survives 400-Foot Fall That Kills 3 in North Cascades

A rock climbing accident in Washington's North Cascades resulted in the deaths of three climbers and left one survivor, Anton Tselykh, with serious injuries. The group was rappelling down the Early Winters Spires when a piton, a metal spike used as an anchor, pulled out of the rock, causing all four men to fall roughly 400 feet. Tselykh lost consciousness but later awoke, disentangled himself from the ropes and gear, and despite suffering internal bleeding and head trauma, trekked for over 12 hours to his car, drove to a pay phone, and called for help. The deceased climbers were identified as Vishnu Irigireddy, Tim Nguyen, and Oleksander Martynenko, the latter leaving behind a wife and son. Authorities believe the group had been ascending but turned back due to an approaching storm, and the piton that failed had been placed by previous climbers. Rescue teams used coordinates from the climbers' device to locate the fall site and recover the bodies by helicopter.