Body of Mountaineer Who Fell to His Death on McKinley Recovered

On June 2, ski mountaineer Alex Chiu, 41, of Seattle, Washington, fell to his death on Mt. McKinley.

Chiu was climbing the West Buttress route with two partners when he fell on an exposed 900m face near Squirrel Point. He was unroped at the time. His partners lowered themselves over the edge to look for him, but could not see or hear Chiu. They then descended to the lower camps to seek help.

High winds and snow slowed rescue operations, with helicopters grounded on June 3. On the morning of June 4, the weather cleared, and National Park rangers recovered Chiu’s body after an aerial search.

The NPS reports that 500 people are on the mountain, a significant uptick from the end of May, when 230 climbers were active.

Martin Walsh

Martin Walsh is a writer and editor for ExplorersWeb.

Martin spent most of the last 15 years backpacking the world on a shoestring budget. Whether it was hitchhiking through Syria, getting strangled in Kyrgyzstan, touring Cambodia’s medical facilities with an exceedingly painful giant venomous centipede bite, chewing khat in Ethiopia, or narrowly avoiding various toilet-related accidents in rural China, so far, Martin has just about survived his decision making.

Based in Da Lat, Vietnam, Martin can be found in the jungle trying to avoid leeches while chasing monkeys.