B.C. paramedics help rescue climber from deep in Alaskan crevasse

Two Vancouver-area paramedics have a tale to tell after helping rescue a climber who got stuck 20 metres down a crevasse while climbing Alaska's Denali, the highest mountain peak in North America.

Climbing partners Stephan Peters, 29 and Bryce Lencoe, 34, had just arrived atbase camp last Monday night after spending two and half weeks successfully climbing the mountain when a park ranger asked them to join the rescue.

"We both said we would do anything we could to help. We were exhausted but we felt we had enough energy to help," said Peters by phone from Alaska this week.

The pair arewell qualified.

Lencoe is an advanced life support paramedic in Vancouver, and Peters is a paramedic in Squamish who is also training to be both a mountain guide and member of the local search and rescue team.

"He jumped on that and told us to pack our bags to be self-sufficient for two days," said Peters. The pair were whisked by helicopter back up the mountain to the rescue site on the Kahiltna Glacier.

When they arrived they found around two dozen professional guides, rangers and volunteers working to free Martin Takac, a 38-year-old Slovakian mountaineer who had plunged down anarrow, 20-metre shaft while crossing the glacier the night before.

It's common to cross the glacier at night, said Lencoe, because cooler temperatures make snow bridges across the crevasses more stable. But this season the low snow pack in the Alaskan mountains has made it particularly treacherous, say park officials.

When the Slovakian fell he was not roped up to his partner, who went for help toa nearby camp. A makeshift team of rescuers spent the night descending one by one by rope into the crevasse to try to free Takac who was jammed in the narrow shaft by his snowshoes.

• Read more about the rescue effort

The rescuers spent the night chipping away the ice and melting it with hot water, but by morning they were starting to tire and the rangers started looking for experienced volunteers to join in the desperate rescue effort.

"The rangers on scene had already been working all night. They were exhausted," said Peters.

That's when the Vancouver paramedics arrived, along with a third Australian climber drafted to join the race to free Takac before he froze to death in the icy shaft.

Rescuers exhausted

The B.C. climbers threw themselves into the rescue effort, helping to boil water and to raise and lower the rescuers.

By this time Takac had been stuck in the ice for over ten hours and was severely hypothermic. He could no longer speak coherently and was barely alert.

"He was about 60 feet down in the crevasse. You couldn't see him. And the guys who were down in the crevasse couldn't see him."

"They got a chest harness on him and rope around him if he slid down further," said Peters.

After about three hours, one of the rangers told the pair to start hauling on Takac's rope, and Takacpopped free from the cold grip of the ice.

But it still took the team 45 minutes to pull him to the surface, said Lencoe.

"He kept getting stuck. They had to chip away ice to get him free several times."

By the time he popped out at the top, Takac was only able to moan.

"He was extremely cold to the touch ... very hypothermic and he had a few injuries on his head," said Stephan.

Flight to safety

The pair's paramedic training kicked in as they fought to keep the climber alive.

"Time was of the essence to try to prevent further heat loss and protect him from the elements," said Lencoe.

They stripped off his wet clothing and wrapped him in a special heating blanket before the rescue helicopter took off for Fairbanks where Takac was admitted to the intensive care unit.

A week later he is reportedly recovering well, say park officials on the Denali National Park blog.

As for the Canadians, they waitedfor evening when temperatures once again dropped and madeit safer to cross the glacier on skis.

But on the way down the pairsay they helped rescue two more climbers who also fell into crevasses under less drastic conditions.

"Some people might think it's dangerous," said Lencoe by phone a week later, "But so is crossing the street. It's all about risk management, what we do."

Park spokesperson Maureen Gualtieri said in 20 years working in the park, she's never seen such a major rescue operation for someone stuck in a crevasse, and this year there have been two already.

She blames the low snowpack this winter and warm spring weather, which is making the mountainparticularly dangerous this year.

"We are hoping climbers will take heed. Travel on the glacier only at night and always travel roped, with skis and snowshoes," said Guialtieri.

At 6,190 metres, Denali is the highest peak in North America and has claimed the lives of nearly 100 mountaineers since it was first climbed in 1913.