Pararescuemen attached to the Alaska Air National Guard’s 210th, 211th, and 212th Rescue squadrons airlifted a Japanese climber from Denali National Park April 21, after the climber had fallen at least 150 feet from Mooses Tooth mountain. Flying 120 miles to the site from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in an HC-130 aircraft and an HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopter, the rescuers were forced by bad weather to land at a staging area for climbers before attempting the rescue. After a climbing party created a partial path, the Air Guard rescue teams plowed through 100 meters of knee-deep snow to reach the Japanese man, who was with two other members of his climbing party. He was suffering from hypothermia even though he was in a sleeping bag. One eye was swollen shut, and he had a severe cut on his head. The rescuers transported him to a hospital in Anchorage for treatment.
