Mountaineer dies after plunging 3,000 feet from North America’s tallest peak.

The body of a mountaineer was recovered on Wednesday after he tragically fell 3,000 feet to his death from Mount McKinley, also known as Denali, which is the highest peak in North America. The National Park Service reported that 41-year-old Alex Chiu fell from Squirrel Point along the West Buttress route, approximately 12,000 feet above sea level. At the time of the incident on Monday, Chiu was untethered and fell down a rocky cliff face.

Chiu was part of an expedition headed toward the Peters Glacier when the accident happened. The conditions on the mountain were challenging, with high winds and snow making it impossible for rescuers to reach his body by helicopter until early Wednesday. According to the park service, another climber who witnessed the fall attempted to lower themselves over the edge but could neither see nor hear Chiu.

Following the recovery, Chiu’s body has been transferred to the local medical examiner for further examination. This incident is not an isolated case; a climber from Japan died on the same West Buttress route in May of the previous year, and a French climber fell to his death in a similar area in 2010, also while unroped. Denali stands at more than 20,000 feet and remains a popular destination for climbers, with approximately 500 climbers currently on the mountain.

Historically known as Denali, meaning “the tall one” in the Athabascan language, the mountain was officially designated McKinley in 1917. Although it was renamed Denali in 2015 during the Obama administration, a recent order by President Donald Trump mandated a return to the name McKinley, though the Denali National Park and Preserve retains its original name.