Officials in Okanogan County on Tuesday identified the four climbers who fell hundreds of feet while rappelling down the side of a steep gully near North Early Winters Spire on Saturday night, killing three.
Vishnu Irigireddy, 48, of Renton; Oleksander Martynenko, 36, of Bellevue; and Tim Nguyen, 63, of Renton all died in the fall around 6:30 p.m. Saturday, Okanogan County Coroner Dave Rodriguez said by phone Tuesday.
A fourth climber, 38, of Seattle, survived, but suffered internal bleeding and a traumatic brain injury in the fall.
The survivor spent hours extricating himself before walking back to his car parked near a user trail just east of Washington Pass, authorities said. He drove 42 miles west to Newhalem, where he used a payphone to call 911 around 11:30 a.m. Sunday. He was taken to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle where he remained, unable to participate in interviews, Rodriguez said. He was in satisfactory condition as of Tuesday, hospital spokesperson Susan Gregg said.
The three climbers who died all suffered blunt force injuries in the fall. All four were tied to the same previously used anchor point — known as a piton — which they found already embedded in the rock. The piton ripped out as they were descending the gully, Rodriguez said.
“They were geared up for what they were doing. They had helmets and all the right climbing equipment. Their equipment was all in good shape and new, not old and worn out,” he said. “What failed is this piton pulling out of the rock.”
