The Muir Snowfield whiteout of September 2020 separated two hikers descending from Camp Muir. Follow the rescue and the death of Alex Fitzgerald.
At 10 a.m. on September 23, 2020, rangers received a call from two hikers descending Mount Rainier. They were lost in high winds, heavy rain and whiteout conditions at roughly 9,300 feet.
They had spent the night at Camp Muir. Below them lay the route toward Paradise, but the Muir Snowfield whiteout had made that descent far more difficult than its direction on a map suggested.
One hiker, a woman visiting from Virginia, survived. Her companion, twenty-seven-year-old Alex Fitzgerald, did not.
Muir Snowfield whiteout: A descent responders could only partly follow
Park rangers monitored the hikers’ progress and sent a quick-response team uphill. The route crosses exposed high ground before reconnecting with the Skyline Trail system below.
During the descent, Fitzgerald became increasingly disoriented. His companion later reported that he eventually stopped responding. She tried to move him and tried to obtain a phone signal. Unable to do either successfully, she left to seek help.
The descent had become two emergencies. Fitzgerald needed assistance higher on the snowfield, while his companion had to make her way toward people who could provide it.
At 3:50 p.m., the response team intercepted the surviving hiker near the top of the Skyline Trail at about 7,200 feet. Two other hikers were already helping her.
Fitzgerald was still higher on the mountain.
The search continued above
Rangers located him at 4:42 p.m., around 7,700 feet on the snowfield. They determined that he had died. His body was recovered the following day with assistance from mountain-rescue volunteers and transferred to the county medical examiner.
Twelve National Park Service rangers and thirteen mountain-rescue volunteers participated in the combined rescue and recovery, according to the park’s release.
The elevations make the account especially difficult to read. The two hikers had been moving downward toward a familiar trailhead, yet losing height did not mean that every remaining obstacle was getting easier. Exposure, reduced visibility and a companion’s worsening condition continued to reshape the emergency.
The first call had come from two people trying to descend together. By late afternoon, teams were helping one hiker toward safety and preparing to recover the other from higher on the same slope.
Sources and reporting
Researched reporting: an original narrative based on the published records linked below.
