A rock climber in Washington who survived a fall of hundreds of feet that killed his three companions lay unconscious for hours before waking in the dark, trekking out and driving to a pay phone to summon help, authorities said he told them on Wednesday.
Speaking from a Seattle hospital, Anton Tselykh, 38, confirmed investigators’ theory that an anchor, called a piton, that he and his companions were using to rappel down the Early Winters Spires in the North Cascade Range had failed.
One climber was rappelling off the piton, a metal spike pounded into rock cracks or ice that climbers anchor their ropes to, when it tore out of the rock. The three other men, who were also tied into the anchor, were waiting to descend when it came loose, plunging all four roughly 400 feet (121 meters), said Cristina Woodworth, who leads the sheriff’s search and rescue team and spoke with Tselykh by phone.
Tselykh lost consciousness after the fall for several hours before awaking in the dark in a tangle of ropes and gear. Woodsworth said he had internal bleeding and head trauma.
It took Tselykh eight hours to disentangle himself, work his way down the rough terrain of rock and snow — with help from a pick-like ice tool — to his car, drive to a nearby town and call for help, Woodworth said.
The four climbers were friends, some of whom had climbed together before and appeared fairly experienced, Woodworth said, adding that Tselykh was “obviously very much affected by this.”
The climbers who were killed were Vishnu Irigireddy, 48; Tim Nguyen, 63; and Oleksander Martynenko, 36, the Okanogan County coroner said.
Olga Martynenko, Martynenko’s wife, said Tuesday in a Facebook post that her husband, whom she referred to as Alex, also left behind their son. She shared a link to a fundraiser to help “during the most devastating time of our lives.”
“I still cannot believe that you are gone, my love,” she said.
