The Alaska National Guard rescued 12 stranded mountaineers off a glacier in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park on Tuesday after four days of foul weather halted attempts to pick them up or drop supplies.
The retrieval of the group from Klutlan Glacier, southeast of Mount Bona, marked the largest high-altitude rescue the Alaska Army National Guard CH-47 Chinook has conducted in state history, according to Maj. Chelsea Aspelund, public affairs chief for the Alaska Air National Guard’s 176th Wing.
The crew landed the helicopter on the glacier at about 10,000 feet around 4:45 p.m. Tuesday and loaded eight mountaineers, four guides, and approximately 1,000 pounds of gear, officials say. An onboard medic treated two mountaineers with symptoms of altitude sickness and a third with frostbite injuries described as minor.