One stranded climber was rescued from Denali in Alaska on Friday but a second had died two days earlier in a snow cave, Denali National Park officials said.
The climbers had been stranded near the summit of Denali, North America’s highest mountain, as bad weather stopped rescuers from reaching them, the National Park Service said in a statement.
The deceased climber was not identified, pending next of kin.
A team of three climbers, all from Malaysia, climbed the remote, 20,310-foot peak in Alaska earlier this week and sent a distress signal Tuesday night "following an extended summit push that left their team exhausted and hypothermic," the NPS said in a statement Thursday.
One of the party, age 48, was able to climb down to a camp at 17,200 feet, where he was found and evacuated in serious condition — but the others, ages 36 and 47, had been sheltering in a crude snow cave at 19,600 feet since Tuesday night, the NPS said.
The climber rescued Friday said his partner had died in their snow cave approximately two days prior, the park service said.
Clouds and high winds had prevented NPS rescuers from going any higher to reach the climbers. But a high-altitude helicopter pilot was was able to drop a duffel bag full of supplies Thursday to the area where the snow cave and the two climbers were believed to be located, park officials said.
"The pilot observed one climber waving at him at the time of the air drop, however winds were still too strong to safely conduct a short-haul basket extraction," the park service said in Friday's statement.
Friday morning wind conditions had improved to allow a helicopter to rescue the surviving climber at around 7 a.m. The climber was rescued at an elevation of around 19,600 feet.
A recovery effort will be planned to retrieve the body of the dead climber, the park service said.
The stranded group had used an inReach emergency satellite communicator to contact authorities at 1 a.m. Tuesday. They said they would descend to a flat area below the summit known as the "Football Field."
But contact stopped at 3:30 a.m. Tuesday morning, and no more messages were sent until 10 p.m. Wednesday, when five arrived in quick succession confirming their location and asking for help. The last message warned that their communicator's battery was almost depleted.
Denali National Park spokesperson Paul Ollig told The Associated Press this week that all three climbers had experience of international high-altitude peaks.
Ollig said it was likely the two stranded climbers only had "minimal" survival gear, as climbers typically leave some equipment at a lower camp while attempting to reach the summit.
NPS rangers also treated two other climbers from another Denali expedition for frostbite this week.
The Denali National Park and Preserve ranges over 6 million acres and is about 240 miles north of Anchorage.
On the safety section of the NPS website, advice warns would-be climbers: "Climbing Denali is a very serious undertaking and should be treated as such. We recommend Denali climbers make numerous ascents of other glaciated peaks in places like Alaska, the Cascades of Washington, the European Alps, South America, or Asia to prepare for this climb."
CORRECTION: (June 4, 4:13 a.m. ET): A previous version of this article misstated the height of Denali. It is 20,310 feet above sea level, not 23,310.
