Mountaineer Dies After 2,000 Foot Fall Down Denali

A Finnish man died from injuries he received Wednesday skiing down Mount McKinley in Denali National Park. Ilkka Uusitalo fell while on the area known as the Orient Express – a 40-45 degree slope just below the 18,000 foot level.  Maureen McLaughlin, Public Information Officer for the Talkeetna Ranger Station says his fall ended about 2,000 feet lower at the bottom of a 60 foot crevasse.

McLaughlin says Uusitalo was part of a team with a lot of experience in ski descents in Europe.

National Park Rangers arrived on the scene about an hour after the fall and transported his body to Talkeetna.  The accident is the second fatality on Denali this season.

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