Anchorage Daily News

An aerial search for two overdue climbers on Mount McKinley resumed Monday morning under clear skies and milder winds, the National Park Service said.

A high altitude Lama helicopter and a twin engine fixed wing aircraft launched at about 9 a.m., carrying mountaineering rangers and other observers familiar with the terrain. As well as the visual search, those aboard were taking photographs of the mountain, the park service said in a written statement.

The flights had not produced any clear sign of the climbers as of early afternoon Monday, but are to continue as weather permits, the park service said.

Park rangers are also responding to another climber with frostbitten hands on the West Buttress route. That climber is expected to be evacuated later this afternoon.

The two missing climbers are Japanese and were attempting the challenging Cassin Ridge assent. They are reported to be technically skilled mountaineers, National Park Service spokeswoman Maureen McLaughlin said. At the request of their families, they aren't being identified.

Though a high-wind warning kept searchers on the ground Sunday morning, a break in the weather allowed two fixed-wing aircraft to look for the men in the afternoon.

"They weren't able to see anything obvious, but they took a lot of photos and they'll scrutinize those at high resolution," McLaughlin said.

The climbers have been on and around the mountain since late April or early May. They climbed the popular West Buttress route to acclimate themselves to high altitudes -- McLaughlin said they didn't summit on that trip -- before attempting a Cassin Ridge ascent.

The pair was last spotted May 9 at their camp at 7,800 feet near the mouth of Northeast Fork of the Kahiltna Glacier. A journal found there included an entry dated at midnight that day, suggesting they may have begun climbing May 10. McLaughlin said the pair expected to need five or six days to reach the mountain's 20,320-foot summit.

The American Alpine Institute calls the Cassin Ridge route one of the most sought-after alpine climbs in the world.

"There are few routes that follow such a beautiful and continuous line -- 9,000 feet of challenging granite and ice," says a description of the route on the climbing school's Web site. The route includes, among other things, the demanding Japanese Couloir, a gully that goes nearly straight up for 1,000 feet.

Climbers generally pack light for treks up the Cassin, McLaughlin said. She doesn't know if the men carried enough food and fuel to last beyond their projected May 22 finish.

She's almost certain their gear doesn't include an emergency locator beacon. "Most climbers in the Alaska Range don't typically bring one," McLaughlin said. "As (the devices) become lighter and more efficient, maybe that will change."

So far this season, 151 climbers have returned from the mountain. Sixty of them, or 40 percent, summited. Historically, 52 percent of Denali climbers reach the summit.

At least four people have been evacuated from the mountain, including two with frostbite.

Find Beth Bragg online at adn.com/contact/bbragg or call 257-4309.

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