LONGMIRE, Wash. (AP) - The body of a Mount Rainier National Park ranger who fell to his death two weeks ago during a rescue operation was recovered Thursday by helicopter.
Park spokeswoman Patti Wold says the recovery went smoothly in clear weather. The body of Nick Hall was flown to the Sunrise ranger station to be driven to the Pierce County medical examiner's office in Tacoma.
Snow, clouds and avalanche danger prevented the recovery in the days after the June 21 accident. Hall fell 2,500 feet while helping rescue four climbers from Waco, Texas, after two of them fell into a crevasse at the 13,800-foot level.
The 33-year-old Hall was a four-year climbing ranger originally from Patten, Maine.
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