BELLINGHAM — The Whatcom County sheriff’s office says a climber who suffered a severe head injury in a fall Thursday on Twin Sisters Mountain was dead when ground rescuers arrived.
The sheriff’s office says weather prevented a helicopter from reaching the scene Thursday, and officials are still trying Friday to arrange for a helicopter to recover the body.
The man’s climbing partner said he fell about 100 feet from the 6,300-foot level of the north mountain. He was alive when the partner descended to the 4,900-foot level to call for help, but dead when a ground team reached him
The mountain is in the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest near Mount Baker.
The sheriff’s office says it appears that the climbers were free-climbing without ropes at the time of the accident.