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The incident happened Sunday afternoon, Feb. 19, in the central Cascade Mountains near Colchuck Lake, located 70 miles east of Seattle, according to the Chelan County Sheriff’s Office.
New York City resident Jeannie Lee, of Bayside, Queens, was confirmed as being among the dead.
A 56-year-old Maryland man contacted deputies on Monday, Feb. 20, and said that six members of the group he was with had attempted to climb Colchuck Peak the day before while he stayed behind at their base camp.
As the group was ascending a steep gully on the mountain, the lead climber triggered an avalanche, officials said. Four of the climbers were swept approximately 500 feet down the mountain, killing three of them.
Authorities identified the two others killed as Connecticut resident Seong Cho, age 54, a Korean national living in West Hartford, and a 66-year-old man from New Jersey.
The fourth climber, a 56-year-old New York man, suffered non-life-threatening injuries, according to deputies. He was able to hike back to base camp with a 50-year-old New York man and 36-year-old New Jersey man who were not injured.
When the group arrived back at base camp, they sent the Maryland man for help.
Nearly two dozen rescuers from at least five different agencies arrived at the base camp on Monday afternoon, but determined that avalanche conditions were too hazardous to try and reach the deceased climbers, sheriff’s officials said. They escorted the surviving climbers back to the trailhead.
Rescuers were kept away from the scene again on Wednesday, Feb. 22 as conditions remained hazardous. The sheriff’s office said it was coordinating with the Northwest Avalanche Center on a plan to recover the climbers' bodies.
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