MOUNT RAINIER NATIONAL PARK, Wash., June 4 (UPI) -- An experienced climber and fire department captain died on Mount Rainier in Washington state two weeks after another climber died on the same ridge.
Jonathan Cahill, 40, of the Auburn Fire Department, fell 200 feet to his death from Mount Rainier's Liberty Ridge Thursday, the Seattle Times reported.
Cahill and his climbing partner, Mark Anderson, 33, were reported stranded at 7 a.m. at 11,300 feet. Both men were firefighters and trained emergency medical technicians.
Park rangers were able to dispatch a helicopter and release four rescuers 500 feet below the stranded men. Two reached Anderson and found him with a wrist injury; the other two reached Cahill and found him dead. It was not clear what caused Cahill's fall.
Cahill had reportedly climbed Mount Rainier at least 25 times.
On May 15, Peter Cooley, a climber from Maine, fell about 30 feet from the same ridge and landed 500 feet above where Cahill's body was found. Cooley died from his injuries two days later.
