National Park Service rangers recovered the body of a ski mountaineer on Wednesday who fell 3,000 feet to his death off the West Buttress of Denali.
The agency identified the victim as 41-year-old Alex Chiu of Seattle.
Denali National Park and Preserve spokesperson Amber Smigiel said it’s likely that Chiu died after he slipped from a ledge and fell onto the rocky face of the Peters Glacier.
“His body was found at the bottom of the 3,000-foot slope of the glacier," she said.
In 2010, an un-roped French mountaineer fell to his death near the same location, park officials said.
Chiu was one of three ski mountaineers who set out on an expedition Monday to ascend the peak, recently renamed Mount McKinley by President Trump. When they reached the 12,000-foot level, two of the mountaineers saw Chiu fall at a spot along the icy and steep portion of the route called Squirrel Point.
Smigiel said the incident occurred while Chiu was descending, but she said park officials aren’t sure where they were headed.
“We still don’t know whether they were attempting to summit, whether they did summit. All we know is that he was on his descent," she said.
According to park officials, the two remaining expedition members lowered themselves over the edge of the West Buttress as far as possible, but were unable to see or hear the missing mountaineer. So they descended the route to seek additional help, and on Tuesday afternoon were at Camp 1, where they were being treated and evaluated by a ranger team.
Smigiel said the two were planning to fly out of Base Camp 1 on Wednesday.
She said an investigation into the incident is ongoing.
The park service said there are currently 500 climbers on the mountain. The climbing season typically runs from early May to early July.