Surviving climber of deadly fall was unconscious for hours, awoke in dark

It was precocious successful the day and lightly snowing erstwhile 4 stone climbers, moving their mode up a steep gully betwixt 2 peaks successful Washington's North Cascades Range, decided to crook astir for a descent down the upland that would end with 3 of them dead.

As they climbed down, the 4 attached their ropes to a piton — a metallic spike pounded into stone cracks oregon crystal and utilized to unafraid ropes — that had been placed by a past climber. As 1 of the men began rappelling disconnected the piton, it ripped retired of the mountain, sending each 4 falling past crystal and snowfall and rock.

They fell immoderate 200 feet, landing successful a much sloping ravine wherever they tumbled for different astir 200 feet earlier coming to a halt successful a tangle of rope.

Three were killed by the fall. One — 38-year-old Anton Tselykh — was knocked unconscious. 

Tselykh aboriginal awoke successful the dark. It had been hours since the fall. And implicit the people of the adjacent respective hours, helium extricated himself from the messiness of ropes, cogwheel and debris and trekked implicit unsmooth terrain of stone and snowfall — with assistance from a pick-like crystal instrumentality — to his car.

He drove for immoderate 40 miles earlier uncovering a wage telephone and calling for assistance successful Newhalem, an unincorporated assemblage astir an hour's thrust away. It was Sunday morning, 8 hours since helium regained consciousness.

The Okanogan County Search and Rescue squad responds to a climbing mishap successful the North Cascades mountains successful Washington connected Sunday, May 11, 2025.  Okanogan County Sheriff's Office via AP

From a Seattle infirmary Wednesday morning, Tselykh, recovering from caput trauma and interior bleeding, told authorities what had happened. He was successful satisfactory information astatine Harborview Medical Center, meaning helium was not successful the intensive attraction unit, Susan Gregg, media relations manager for UW Medicine, said successful an email.

"The information that helium had a caput injury, a terrible caput wounded and interior bleeding, it is conscionable astonishing that helium was capable to marque his mode backmost to the road and past get successful his car and drive," Okanogan County Undersheriff David Yarnell said, NBC News reported.

Tselykh's endurance "is miraculous to accidental the least," helium said.

Tselykh confirmed authorities' theories of what led to the deaths of his 3 companions, identified arsenic Vishnu Irigireddy, 48; Tim Nguyen, 63; and Oleksander Martynenko, 36.

A three-person hunt and rescue squad had responded to the tract of the autumn pursuing Tselykh's call, said Cristina Woodworth, who led the squad and spoke with the lone subsister by telephone Wednesday. The squad had followed coordinates from a GPS instrumentality the climbers had been carrying, which were shared by a person of the men.

The unsmooth terrain required a helicopter, which removed the bodies 1 astatine a time, Woodworth said. The helicopter's formation done 16 miles of rugged, mountainous terrain took longer than accustomed — astir an hr —due to harsh weather, CBS affiliate KIRO reported. Video of the aerial betterment showed the chopper navigating blustery winds arsenic it made its mode to the climbers.  

As responders pored implicit the recovered equipment, they recovered the piton inactive clipped into the climbers' ropes, Okanogan County Coroner Dave Rodriguez said. Pitons are hard to region from rock, helium said, and the anchor's beingness connected the enactment was a hint to what happened.

"There's nary different crushed it would beryllium hooked onto the enactment unless it pulled retired of the rock," Rodriguez had said.

It's inactive unclear whether the 4 had a backup anchor, which Joshua Cole, a usher and co-owner of North Cascades Mountain Guides, said is simply a communal signifier among climbers.

The 4 climbers were friends, immoderate of whom had climbed unneurotic earlier and appeared reasonably experienced, Woodworth said, adding that Tselykh was "obviously precise overmuch affected by this."

Irigireddy was a vice president of engineering astatine the Fluke Corporation, a trial instrumentality manufacturing company, which released a connection Wednesday.

"Vishnu was an bonzer leader, and his nonaccomplishment is felt profoundly crossed our organization," the connection read.

Martynenko's wife, Olga, said Tuesday successful a Facebook post that her husband, whom she referred to arsenic Alex, besides near down their son. She shared a nexus to a fundraiser to assistance "during the astir devastating clip of our lives."

"I inactive cannot judge that you are gone, my love."

Woodworth said falls similar this starring to 3 deaths are highly rare. Two climbers were killed 7 years agone successful a autumn connected El Capitan astatine Yosemite National Park successful California.