SEATTLE (AP) — A park spokesman says a climber missing after a weekend avalanche on Mount Rainier is presumed dead.
Mount Rainier National Park spokesman Kevin Bacher says the park believes the climber is a 27-year-old man from Olympia, but is not releasing his name.
Nearly a dozen people trekking to the summit of Mount Rainier were overtaken by an avalanche on the upper slopes of the mountain early Saturday. All except one were pulled from the snow by other climbers on the mountain.
A search was called off Saturday afternoon because of high avalanche conditions.
Bacher says climbing rangers are still waiting for avalanche conditions to improve to begin a ground search to recover the body.
