Lost snowshoer burned cash, socks to survive

SEATTLE?? The survival of a 66-year-old snowshoer who spent two nights on Mount Rainier was being called a miracle, even as National Park Service staff waited out bad weather to see if four overdue hikers are OK.

Yong Chun Kim said he survived by using fire starters to burn leaves and eventually $1 and $5 bills in his wallet as well as socks, KOMO TV of Seattle reported.

Kim also told said he marched in place to keep warm and took shelter in a tree well.

Kim was rescued after searchers traversed deep snow at 6,300 feet and snowshoed up a river valley to pull him from the icy remote backcountry.

The team reached Kim on Monday afternoon but it wasn't until 11 p.m. local time that he was brought from the rugged terrain covered in deep snow to a road, Mount Rainier National Park spokeswoman Lee Taylor said late Monday.

She told the News Tribune newspaper of Tacoma, Wash., that he did not need to go to a hospital and instead was going home. Kim "seems to be in good shape and we're just thrilled to have been able to bring this search to such a successful conclusion," Taylor said.

Taylor said the experienced snowshoer from Tacoma was alert, conscious and stable when he was found by three searchers.

He was reported missing on Saturday after he fell down a slope and became separated from a group he was leading in the Paradise area, a popular high-elevation destination on the mountain's southwest flank, about a 100-mile drive south from Seattle.

Kim, who has been snowshoeing for a decade, was well equipped for a day trip but didn't have overnight gear and the weather was not helpful.

"The weather was wintry, with fresh snow each day, low temperatures in the teens, and high winds," the park service said.

Because Kim was the leader of his group, other snowshoers weren't able to accurately describe where he had slipped, Taylor said. Searchers had initially believed Kim fell in a different area, based on descriptions from the group, Taylor said.

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Taylor said he was in a remote area with deep snow. Mount Rainier has seen temperatures in the teens, and eight inches of new snow fell in some places since Saturday. Wind-blown snow drifts were as high as 30 inches in some areas.

Bad weather prevented a helicopter rescue, so crews used a Sno-Cat snow vehicle to reach the area where Kim was. Then "searchers had to snowshoe up the river valley to reach him, load him into a kind of a litter that could be slid across the snow, sort of a sled, bring him back down and get him back into the Sno-Cat and bring the Sno-Cat back out to the road," Taylor said.

Kim's son, Malcom An, thanked authorities and the rescuers in a statement released through the National Park Service.

"It?s a miracle that he is alive," he said, "but it?s an assisted miracle. I want to thank all the volunteers and the National Park Service staff who worked so hard to find my father."

With a new storm moving into the Seattle area Tuesday night , Mount Rainier staff said Tuesday that two climbers are one day overdue and two campers are two days overdue.

The campers were on the Muir snowfield, where it's been below zero in recent days with winds up to 90 mph, the News Tribune reported.

The climbers were also on the mountain but their route was not immediately known.

The couple, Mark Bucich of San Diego, Calif., and Michelle Trojanowski of Atlanta, Ga., had planned to summit the 14,411-foot mountain and then return Sunday afternoon. They are said to be skilled climbers with enough camping gear to stay out several nights, KOMO TV reported.

"Both parties are equipped for camping in winter weather," the park service said in a statement. "Due to weather conditions it is expected that they are waiting out the weather before attempting their descents."

"A limited field search is underway," the park added, "but putting searchers extensively on the mountain is not expected due to the risk involved including current severe weather, white out conditions and high avalanche danger.

In a separate incident, a backcountry skier at Crystal Mountain, right across from Mount Rainier, was lucky to be alive after getting lost Friday. A search team found him that night suffering from hypothermia and pulled him out at 6 a.m. Saturday.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46010767/ns/us_news-life/

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