1981 — June 21, Ice Fall/Avalanche, Ingraham Glacier climbers, Mt. Rainier, WA — 11
— 11 Forces of Nature. Avalanches. “Case Studies.”
— 11 King. “11 Climbers Missing on Mt. Rainier in Fall of Ice Wall.” NYT, 6-22-1981.
— 11 McClary. “Avalanche kills 11 climbers as they ascent Mount Rainer on June 21, 1981.”
Narrative Information
Forces of Nature: “Eleven mountain climbers are swept off the mountain’s face when a wall of ice and rock breaks off the face of a glacier and seeps downhill. The bodies are buried under nearly 70 feet of ice and debris. The accident is thought to be the worst in the history of American mountaineering. It happened as 29 climbers tried to scale 14,410-foot-high Mt. Rainier, the highest peak in Washington State. They had reached the 11,000-foot mark when the ice fell…..” (Forces of Nature. Avalanches. “Case Studies.”)
McClary: “On Sunday morning, June 21, 1981, 10 novice mountain climbers and one guide are killed by an immense avalanche of ice and snow on Ingraham Glacier while ascending to the summit of Mount Rainier (14,411 feet). A National Park Service board of inquiry will determine that the accident is a random event that could not have been predicted. The Rainier Mountaineering Inc. guides are held blameless. The bodies of the victims are entombed in a deep crevasse under tons of glacial ice and cannot be recovered. As of the summer of 2014, it will remain the worst mountaineering accident in American history….” (McClary, Daryl C. “Avalanche kills 11 climbers as they ascent Mount Rainer on June 21, 1981.” HistoryLink.org. 8-23-2014.)
Newspaper
June 22: “Paradise, Wash., June 21 — Eleven mountain climbers were believed dead after being swept off the face of Mount Rainier early today and buried by up to 70 feet of boulder-sized chunks of ice. The 11 missing persons, including 10 amateur climbers and one guide, were part of a 29-member group attempting to reach the summit of the 14,410-foot peak, the highest mountain in Washington State….The 18 other climbers were not in the path of the cascading ice, which broke off a glacier, and escaped with their lives. There was no report of injuries in the group of survivors….
“Gary Gregory, an information officer for Mount Rainier National Park, said that an ice fall occurs when a wall of ice breaks off a glacier. He said it was ”more dangerous and unpredictable” than an avalanche because it could occur any time of year, regardless of weather conditions. An avalanche usually involves snow and normally occurs as the weather warms, he said.
“The accident was described as the worst in the recorded history of Mount Rainier, the third highest peak in the continental United States. Officials at the Mount Rainier National Park said that 55 fatalities have occurred here since 1897. But in the worst previous accidents, in 1959 and 1967, three climbers were killed….
“The eleven missing persons were identified by the authorities as Tom O’Brien, a Seattle-area guide whose age was not given; Jonathan Laitone, 27 years old, of Ann Arbor, Mich.; Mark Ernland, 29, of Renton, Wash.; Craig Tippie, 28, of Bellevue, Wash.; Ira Liedman, 30, of Hatfield, Pa.; Michael Watts, 36, of Mercer Island, Wash.; David Kidd, 30, of Arlington, Wash.; Henry Matthews, 38, of Auburn, Wash.; David Boulton of Seattle; Ronald A. Farrell, 21, of Bellevue, and Gordon Heneage, 42, of Seattle….” (King, Wayne. “11 Climbers Missing on Mt. Rainier in Fall of Ice Wall.” New York Times, 6-22-1981.)
Sources
Forces of Nature. Avalanches. “Case Studies.” Accessed 3-28-2010 at: http://library.thinkquest.org/C003603/english/avalanches/casestudies.shtml#21
King, Wayne. “11 Climbers Missing on Mt. Rainier in Fall of Ice Wall.” New York Times, 6-22-1981. Accessed 5-24-2017 at: http://www.nytimes.com/1981/06/22/us/11-climbers-missing-on-mt-rainier-in-fall-of-ice-wall.html
McClary, Daryl C. “Avalanche kills 11 climbers as they ascent Mount Rainer on June 21, 1981.” HistoryLink.org, The Free Encyclopedia of Washington State History, posted 8-23-2014 at: http://www.historylink.org/File/10796
National Climatic Data Center. Storm Data, Vol. 23, No. 6, June 1981. Asheville, NC: NCDC, NOAA, 42 pages. Accessed 5-21-2017 at: http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/IPS/sd/sd.html