Body of skier who went missing last month found in Mount Rainier National Park

CNN
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A skier missing for a month was found dead at the base of a waterfall in Mount Rainier National Park in Washington state, officials said. Rangers found his body on Saturday.

The search for the skier had been underway since May 19, with groups of rangers and volunteers scouring the park for tracks, the National Park Service said in a news release.

An unconscious person was spotted from a helicopter and rangers recovered the body using “traditional crevasse rescue methods,” the statement said.

The woman appears to have fallen approximately 200 feet at the base of Moraine Falls, above the Paradise area, according to the release. It was not possible to identify the woman.

Favorable weather conditions were necessary for the helicopter search and recovery of the body to take place, park officials said. The skier's body was transported to the Pierce County Medical Examiner's Office for evaluation.

This is the second death reported in the park in less than a month.

Brian Harper, 41, who collapsed near the summit of Mount Rainier on May 31, was part of a climbing group led by Alpine Ascents International, a licensed guiding service, the park service said.

Efforts to perform CPR were unsuccessful, according to a news release.

Weather conditions did not become suitable for bringing down Harper's body until the next day. The cause of death has not yet been released by the Pierce County Medical Examiner.

Another man died at Mount Rainier in August 2022 while walking down Disappointment Cleaver Road. Chun Hui Zhang, of Surrey, British Columbia, was 52 years old.

Mount Rainier is an active volcano located over 14,410 feet above sea level. Paradise is about two hours from Seattle.

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified the capital as Washington. The state capital is Olympia.

CNN's Jay Croft and Paradise Afshar contributed to this report.