Tuesday evening I spotted a small article in the newspaper: Four Sought on Mount Baker ^* . My heart sank. I followed the story as it unfolded over the following days. The weather was so bad a search party was not able to get up the mountain until Wednesday (28 May 1969) ^** . The frozen bodies were found near the skis.

Based on the article and my first-hand observations, it appears one of the party fell and pulled the other party members with them. At least one was injured in the fall and it is likely all were enervated. Perhaps they were near the skis when they fell or tried to make their way to the skis after the fall. They must have sheltered from the wind and cold by huddling as a group, eventually perishing from exposure.

The bad weather continued and the bodies were left for another week before it was safe to retrieve them.