BAD WEATHER, EXPOSURE Washington, Mt. RainierO n S ep tem ber 8, Shirli V oight (30) of D enver and G uillerm o M endoza (28) of Saltillo, C oahuila, M exico, w ere fo u n d b u ried in the snow about 13,300 feet n ea r M ount R ainier N ational P ark ’s D isappo in tm ent Cleaver clim bing rou te .

“It d id n ’t ap p e a r they w ere caught in an avalanche,” said L arry H en d e rso n , a M ount R ainier N ational Park spokesm an. “I t looks like it was ju s t the w eather.

W e’ve had several days of very bad w eather.” T h e re was no im m ediate indication the clim bers had pitched cam p o r a ttem pted to take shelter. T hey ap paren tly a t­tem p ted to co n tinu e on th ro u g h cold, pun ish ing w eather instead of holing up against a snow storm tha t descended on them .

O th e r clim bers say the pair at the 12,500-foot level and advised them not to p roceed because of bad w eather conditions. V oigt was d irec to r of the C olorado M ountaineering C lub M ountaineering School; M endoza was a student in D en­ver and a clim bing instruc to r for the M exican M ountaineering School. (Source: The Seattle Times)