Body of climber who fell skiing down Liberty Ridge on Mount Rainier found in crevasse
The body of a climber who went missing while skiing down the Liberty Ridge route on Mount Rainier was found Monday, according to the National Park Service.
Matthew Bunker, 28, of Seattle, disappeared Friday while descending behind his partner near 10,400-foot Thumb Rock on the north flank of the mountain.
Rangers said it’s unknown what caused Bunker to fall in steep, treacherous terrain.
A helicopter was used twice over the weekend to conduct reconnaissance missions from the air, but winds and clouds hampered the search.
On Monday, rangers in the helicopter spotted Bunker’s body in a crevasse at the base of a cliff.
That area is prone to continuous rock and ice fall and rescuers said it’s too dangerous to recover Bunker’s body.
“It brings us a great degree of sorrow to be unable to bring him home to his family,” Tracy Swartout, deputy superintendent of Mount Rainier National Park, said in a statement.
Bunker’s parents live in Delavan, Wisconsin, where he grew up.
Bunker graduated from West Point in 2013 and served in the military for five years.
Liberty Ridge is considered one of the most technical, dangerous routes on the mountain.
In the area where Bunker fell, six climbers were swept to their deaths in May 2014 in the second-deadliest accident in the recorded history of Mount Rainier.
About 100 climbers attempt that route every year but only 53 percent make it to the summit, according to the Park Service.
Liberty Ridge is responsible for at least 28 deaths, about a quarter of the park’s climbing fatalities since they started keeping records.
The Park Service said searches for two missing hikers — Vincent Dije, 25, and Talal Sabbagh, 17 — were continuing.
Djie vanished June 19 in the Longmire area and Sabbagh disappeared June 22 in the Paradise area.
This story was originally published June 29, 2020 at 8:33 PM.
