St. Paul man among 6 feared dead on Mt. Rainier
Published 10:15 am Monday, June 2, 2014
ELKO — A St. Paul man who presumably died on Mount Rainier in Washington state always showed an instinctive passion for climbing, his uncle said Sunday.
Even as a toddler, Mark Mahaney’s parents had trouble keeping him in his crib, Rob Mahaney said.
“His parents couldn’t keep him anywhere — he’d always find a way to get out of anything,” the uncle, who lives in Elko, told The Associated Press during a phone interview.
He said his nephew never outgrew his rambunctious ways or lost his knack for climbing.
“He just loved to climb, he loved the outdoors, he loved the exhilaration of being in the wide-open,” Rob Mahaney said.
Park officials say it’s currently too risky to send people in search of six climbers who likely fell thousands of feet to their deaths while attempting to scale 14,410-foot Mount Rainier.
Under safer conditions, crews could go in after the bodies. “The families, I’m sure, would like that closure,” park spokeswoman Patti Wold said Sunday. But continuous falling ice and rock make the avalanche-prone area too dangerous for rescuers.