Snowboarders Rescued from Washington’s Mount Rainier
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iStockphoto/Thinkstock(SEATTLE) — Two snowboarders have been rescued after they spent two nights trapped at 7,500 feet on Washington’s Mount Rainier.
Derek Tyndall, 21, and Thomas Dale, 20, both from Indiana, were found alive, but their condition was not immediately known. It is expected to be several hours before the rescue teams reach a command post where the two men can be evaluated.
Rescue teams braved the dangers of avalanches as they waded through chest-high snow on Mount Rainier today to rescue the two men, who became trapped in a snowstorm Sunday.
The friends, who had no overnight gear, were able to dig a snow cave and call for help on their cell phones, which are now believed to be dead, said Lee Smook, a spokesperson for Mount Rainier National Park.
Visual contact was believed to have been made with the men on Monday, Smook said, but rescue teams could not reach them before darkness.
“It was extreme weather yesterday,” Smook told ABC News Tuesday morning. “And today, the conditions are ripe for avalanche, so that is another concern with [the stranded men] not having a map and not knowing the terrain.”
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