ANCHORAGE, Alaska — National park rangers in Alaska found the body of a 35-year-old Austrian climber who had been missing for a week on North America’s tallest mountain peak, park officials said Friday.
Matthias Rimml, a mountain guide from Tirol, had last been heard from on April 30, the Anchorage Daily News reported. His body was found on Denali after three days of aerial searches, KTUU-TV reported.
Denali, also called Mount McKinley, has a summit elevation of 20,310 feet. It is located in south-central Alaska.
Rimml last made contact with a friend when he used a satellite phone on the West Buttress portion of the mountain, which has an elevation of about 18,200 feet, according to a news release from the National Park Service.
“Rimml likely fell on the steep traverse between Denali Pass at 18,200 feet and the 17,200-foot plateau, a notoriously treacherous stretch of the West Buttress route,” park officials said. “Thirteen climbers, including Rimml, have died in falls along this traverse, the majority occurring on the descent.”
Park officials said Rimml was already acclimated to the mountain’s altitude because of recent climbs, according to The Associated Press. He had planned to climb Denali “alpine style,” or ascending quickly with light gear. His goal was to reach the summit in five days, even though he carried enough fuel and food to last 10 days, the AP reported.
Rimml began his climb on April 27 from the Kahiltna Basecamp, which is at an elevation of 7,200 feet, CNN reported.
Attempts to recover Rimml’s body will not begin until a ranger patrol becomes acclimated to the high altitude and can safely begin searching, the Daily News reported.