Park rangers have recovered the body of a dead female skier from the base of Pebble Creek’s Moraine Falls above Paradise at Mount Rainier National Park.
Rangers had been searching for the missing skier after she was last heard from on May 18, before she set out on a ski tour above Paradise.
The park’s contract helicopter found an unresponsive person who appeared to have fallen approximately 200 feet to the base of a waterfall, according to the National Park Service.
Trees and tracks in snow, Paradise Valley; Mount Rainier National Park, WA.
Greg Vaughn/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
Mount Rainier sits high above the treeline surrounded by subalpine meadows full of flowers, Paradise, WA.
NPS Photo
The area was surrounded by a large, unstable snow moat that was subject to rock and ice fall, posing a risk to recovery teams, according to the NPS.
“Rangers were able to recover the body using traditional crevasse rescue methods during another period of favorable weather,” according to the NPS.
A steep trail takes you towards a view point of Mount Rainier in Paradise, WA.
B. Burnett/National Park Service
Blossoming wildflowers in a meadow and Mount Hood with snow, Mount Rainier National Park. Paradise, WA.
Craig Tuttle/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
The park’s contract helicopter transported the body to Kautz Creek Helibase for evaluation by the Pierce County Medical Examiner.
