The body of a female skier last heard from on May 18 was recovered in Mount Rainier National Park three weeks later, on Saturday, officials said Tuesday.
The park said rangers started searching May 19 in response to a report of an overdue skier who’d set out to ski tour above the park’s Paradise area.
Four rangers and two volunteers searched on the ground, and the park’s contract helicopter spotted an unresponsive person on a reconnaissance flight during a window of favorable weather.
National Park Service / M. Larson photo
The body was found at the base of Pebble Creek’s Moraine Falls above Paradise. She appeared to have fallen some 200 feet to the base of a waterfall, the park said, adding that, “The area was surrounded by a large, unstable snow moat that was subject to rock and ice fall, which posed too high of an immediate risk to recovery teams.”
Rangers recovered her body during another period of favorable weather and the chopper brought it to the Kautz Creek Helibase for evaluation by the Pierce County Medical Examiner, the park said.