Wash. Man Rescued From Denali After Sudden Illness

TALKEETNA, AK - A 23-year-old man from Carnation was rescued from Denali on Sunday after suddenly getting sick while climbing. Michael Metzler was plucked from the mountain by helicopter, according to the National Park Service. He was taken to a hospital for treatment of an acute abdominal illness.

A group of mountaineering volunteers discovered Metzler as they were coming down the mountain around 11 p.m. Sunday. Metzler was located at Heartbreak Hill at an elevation of about 7,000 feet.

Metzler's rescue was one of two that occurred on Denali, the tallest mountain in North America, early this week. Martin Takac, 38, of Slovakia, fell 40 feet into an icy crevasse at 7,800 feet. Takac fell around 1:30 a.m. Monday, but a helicopter couldn't retrieve him until more than 12 hours later at 3:30 p.m. Takac had become wedged in ice, and bad weather prevented a helicopter from taking off sooner.

Denali - formerly known as Mt. McKinley - has an elevation of about 20,000 feet (Mount Rainier is about 14,000 feet, by comparison) located in central Alaska. The National Parks Service estimates that about 32 percent of people who attempt to summit the mountain actually make it to the top.

Image via National Parks Service