OLYMPIC NATIONAL PARK — A 24-year-old man who was part of a research team on Mount Olympus fell 200 feet to 300 feet today and was airlifted to a Seattle hospital with an apparent broken arm and head injuries, an Olympic National Park spokeswoman said.
The man, James Andrew Menking, was a member of a three-person glacier research team from the University of Washington that was hiking to Blue Glacier, said Barb Maynes, park spokeswoman.
A nursing supervisor at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle said at 8 p.m. that Menking’s condition was serious.
Menking fell down an avalanche chute on Mount Olympus between Elk Lake and Glacier Meadows, Maynes said.
The fall was reported to the park at 2:15 p.m. The Coast Guard launched an MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crew from Air Station/Sector Field Office Port Angeles and hoisted the man aboard at 5:08 p.m., the Coast Guard said.
At the Port Angeles Coast Guard base, he was transferred to an Airlift Northwest helicopter at about 6 p.m. and then was flown to Harborview, the Coast Guard said.
