The greatest difficulty always lies in the unknown. The questions come without answers, without relief, offering only mystery.
Nearly two anxious weeks have passed since rangers at Denali National Park and Preserve launched their search for renowned Vail mountaineer Sue Nott and her equally celebrated climbing partner, Karen McNeill of Canmore, Alberta, on the flanks of one of Alaska’s most treacherous and least forgiving peaks. Nott, 36, and McNeill, 37, had teamed up to attempt the Infinite Spur route to the 17,400-foot summit of Mount Foraker, the most difficult route up the second-tallest peak in Denali, fewer than 15 miles southwest of North America’s highest mountain.
They left base camp 30 days ago, carrying enough food and fuel to last for 14. With a violent storm shrouding the peak, they haven’t been seen for at least 15 days.
Search teams held vigil throughout the weekend, still hoping for the clouds to break long enough to get a look at the peak and coordinate a rescue. There is always hope. Occasionally miracles. Although, in the mountains, mysteries are more common.
Because Nott and McNeill are regarded as two of the strongest and most competent climbers in the world, would-be rescuers cling to fading optimism that they remain alive. Tracks have been spotted in the snow only 1,000 feet below the summit. A torn backpack belonging to Nott was retrieved Friday from avalanche debris several thousand feet below using a grabber arm from a high-altitude helicopter. Its contents included a sleeping bag, the team’s lone radio, some clothing and a full bottle of water. No one is sure how it got there, although speculation abounds.
The lost water bottle is perhaps most emblematic of the women’s presumed fate. By now, searchers estimate the duo has been without water and the fuel necessary to melt snow for about 10 days, an almost certain death sentence.
Yet, there remains a school of thought that if anyone can endure such an ordeal, it is these women. They are proven survivors.
“The first time Sue came to Alaska with me she disappeared on a climb for two weeks. No one knew where she was – totally off the map,” said extreme skier Chris Anthony, a lifelong friend from Vail. “After she showed up she didn’t really talk about. She just said they ran into some trouble.”
In the 16 years since she began ice climbing in Vail, Nott’s résumé – and the ensuing tales of her endurance – has grown to include several of the most perilous routes on the planet, including the first winter ascent by a woman on the north face of the fabled Eiger in Switzerland, where she and partner John Varko dismissed a rescue helicopter just below the summit after being hampered several days by deteriorating weather and difficult climbing conditions.
A similar scenario unfolded two years ago, when Nott and McNeill became the first women and second team in history to conquer the notoriously challenging Cassin Ridge on Mount McKinley. Wind, snow and freezing temperatures forced the women to bivouac on multiple occasions, including one overnight on the 20,320-foot summit. When the rescue helicopter discovered them, Nott casually flipped the pilot a thumbs-up before walking down the ridge.
In 1999, Nott survived a horrific accident when an ice pillar in East Vail collapsed on her abdomen, severing her intestines. In her words, she “flatlined,” and had to be brought back to life in a hospital. Less than two months later, she was climbing in Patagonia.
This time around, however, the story appears to have a different ending. The catastrophic possibilities are limitless. The women may have been buried by avalanche or fallen into a crevasse. The weather may have forced them to bivouac, where they ultimately succumbed to hypothermia and dehydration. More likely, based on the footprints so near the summit, they attempted to go over the top and climb down one of the easier routes on the other side before exhausting their supplies. Exposed and facing the harsh winds of a fierce storm, it’s conceivable they were blown right off the mountain.
At this point, it would appear miraculous if the women are seen again. It’s not unreasonable, and in fact quite probable, to believe that Nott understood this as her ultimate fate in the high mountains. Having lived her life among them, why should she expect to die anywhere else? She understood the risks better than anyone. She had died there once already.
Books will be written attempting to piece together the facts, movies made re-enacting the dramatic ordeal, but in the end it’s likely that only Nott and McNeill will know what really happened, the troubling sequence of events that led them to perish on Mount Foraker.
To the infinite questions, there may never be answers. Or perhaps there already are. In the end, isn’t that the real reason why people climb mountains after all?
Staff writer Scott Willoughby can be reached at 303-820-1993 or swilloughby@denverpost.com.
