Helicopter

A man climbing the West Buttress route of Denali fell to his death Friday while attempting to retrieve a backpack, according to a Talkeetna Ranger Station public information officer. Maureen McLaughlin says at about 4:30 p.m. Denali National Park and Preserve mountaineering rangers received a report the climber fell 1,100 feet down the north face of the buttress.    The man was reportedly part of a three person, un-roped climbing team, which had just reached the top of the 'headwall' or 'fixed lines' section of the West Buttress route.  The team was at an elevation of 16,200 feet when the climber fell.

State troopers say a man who fell 200 feet down a rocky face near Heney Ridge and lived to tell about it was rescued Friday. Officials say Paul Rohweder from Bellingham, Wash. was hiking with three others at about 5:20 p.m. when he slipped and fell, landing on the edge of another cliff, and was knocked out. A Coast Guard helicopter with Cordova Volunteer Fire Department members on board rescued Rohweder. He was later taken to an Anchorage hospital for treatment of life-threatening injuries.

Alaska State Troopers have named the drivers involved in a head-on collision near Seward Wednesday afternoon that left them seriously injured and medevaced to Anchorage by the Alaska Air National Guard. AST spokesperson Megan Peters says the crash happened at about 12:10 p.m. Wednesday at Mile 4 of the Seward Highway, when a vehicle crossed the center line and hit another one, entrapping the two victims -- drivers Edward Jacobson of Seward and Dave Hamaker of Anchorage, both 61 years old. Traffic on the Seward was slowed for several hours as troopers conducted an investigation of the crash, but Peters says at least one lane remained open throughout the afternoon.

by Rebecca Palsha Saturday, May 22, 2010 ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Alaska State Troopers responded to a report of a 16-year-old girl who fell and hit some rocks on Flattop Mountain about 5:30 p.m. Saturday. Subsequent reports that she was a woman in her 20s were inaccurate. According to troopers spokesperson Beth Ipsen, Alexa Stlaurent of Anchorage slipped on snow about 500 feet below the mountain's summit. Officials say she is in stable condition with head and neck injuries.

An Alaska Air National Guard helicopter rescued three men from a plane crash near Ptarmigan Pass early Wednesday morning after an overnight search. At about 10:50 p.m. Tuesday night, a Cessna 180 scheduled to return to Anchorage from Ptarmigan Pass by 9 p.m. was reported overdue to Alaska State Troopers. The caller had also received an emergency signal from a SPOT personal beacon on board the plane. Troopers relayed information on the overdue plane to the 11th Air Force's Rescue Coordination Center, which launched an HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopter and an HC-130 aircraft from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson.

U.S. Coast Guard aircraft have safely found a 31-foot sailing vessel near Sitka and hoisted its sole occupant aboard a helicopter Tuesday, hours after its emergency transmitter began broadcasting. According to a statement from Coast Guard spokesperson Petty Officer 1st Class Sara Francis, the Etak's 406 MHz emergency position indicating radio beacon began to transmit at about 11 a.m., from a position roughly 200 miles northwest of Sitka. Rory Williams was subsequently rescued from the vessel.

Searchers found the body of Austrian climber Juergen Kanzian on Mount McKinley after using a high-powered spotting scope Thursday evening. National Park Service rangers located Kanzian's body from a helicopter by identifying the color and style of his gear, according to Denali National Park spokesperson Maureen McLaughlin. They were unable to recover the body because of steep terrain. Kanzian, a 41-year-old mountaineering guide in the Alps, told other climbers he intended to ski from the summit down a standard route called the West Buttress.

by Rhonda McBride Thursday, January 07, 2010 ANCHORAGE, Alaska – A 76-year-old man was killed Thursday when his disabled vehicle was rear-ended as he stood in front of it. Robert Marvin's Volkswagen van was disabled at the edge of the on-ramp to South Birchwood when around 3:15 the van was struck by a pickup truck driven by Eric Wallingford, 37. The truck pushed the van forward, onto Marvin, who was pinned under the...

by Christine Kim and Rebecca Palsha Wednesday, July 7, 2010 ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- A helicopter crash Wednesday morning claimed the lives of three Coast Guard crewmen based in Sitka. The Coast Guard says four men were aboard the MH-60 Jayhawk when it went down off James Island near La Push, Wash. It's standard procedure for Coast Guard crews to check in every 15 minutes when they're flying. When the helicopter's crew didn't check in at 9:30 a.m. or 9:45 a.m., the Coast Guard had already launched a rescue effort.

by Channel 2 News staff Monday, May 17, 2010 ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- A French mountain climber died after a fall of more than 1,000 feet Sunday while climbing Mount McKinley's West Buttress, according to a press release from the National Park Service. Pascal Frison, 51, lost control of a sled he was pulling, and while trying to stop it, slid off a ridge at about 12,000 feet. Climbers from a nearby team, who radioed for help, saw Frison fall down a steep section of the mountain to Peters Glacier.