A climbing guide died after tumbling greater than 1,000 ft down a California mountain amid dangerously icy situations from a late winter storm, authorities mentioned Tuesday.
Jillian Elizabeth Webster, 32, was considered one of 5 individuals who fell whereas climbing Mt. Shasta on Monday morning, the Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office mentioned in a news launch.
Webster, of Redmond, Oregon, was tethered to two different individuals after they misplaced their footing and slid between 1,500 and a couple of,500 ft in an space often called “Avalanche Gulch,” the discharge mentioned. The fall was reported at 8:35 a.m.
A nurse who was climbing close by administered CPR to Webster, who was unresponsive, the sheriff’s workplace mentioned. She was later pronounced useless at an area hospital.
One of the climbers tethered to Webster suffered head trauma and a fractured decrease leg, the sheriff’s workplace mentioned. The different climber additionally had a fractured decrease leg.
In two separate incidents at 12:31 and 4 p.m., two different climbers additionally tumbled roughly 1,000 ft down the mountain. Both had been airlifted to an area hospital, the place their situations weren’t instantly obtainable.
The sheriff’s workplace mentioned Monday that two of the injured climbers within the three incidents had been in essential situation.
A sixth one that fell Tuesday suffered a leg harm with potential damaged bones and was additionally airlifted to an area hospital, a spokeswoman for the sheriff’s workplace mentioned. The individual’s situation wasn’t instantly clear.
Webster’s expertise degree wasn’t instantly clear. It additionally wasn’t clear what climbing outfit she was affiliated with.
Tim Keating, who’s summited Mt. Shasta 450 instances and based a mountain guide firm in 1981, mentioned that Webster’s group was probably following the usual route on a peak common with climbers — a two to three day journey that begins at just below 7,000 ft and ultimately reaches the summit, at 14,179 ft.
Keating’s firm wasn’t concerned with the journey and he didn’t know Webster. He mentioned that latest snow had probably refrozen, making a layer of ice that may make for an arduous, treacherous climb.
“It can change the nature of the mountain,” he mentioned. “Something that can be a beginner slope 80 to 90 percent is very dangerous the other 20 percent of the time.”
He added: “The general public, they go up there and they don’t have any idea what they’re getting into.”
Keating mentioned that his firm guided a gaggle up the mountain over the weekend with out incident, although they did not attain the summit due to 90-100 mph winds.
Siskiyou County Sheriff Jeremiah LaRue mentioned Tuesday that whereas it was “prime time” for climbing, “people need to stay off until we can better evaluate the weather and the conditions up there.”