On Saturday, two women fell approximately 200 feet to their deaths while climbing Teewinot Mountain in Grand Teton National Park, according to . Tyler Strandberg, 27, and Catherine Nix, 28, were both pronounced dead by rangers and a park medical director.
A third climber, Rebecca Anderson, 26, was stranded on a small ledge. Two rangers climbed up to her location and rescued her via a short-haul evacuation—a rescue technique in which the rescuee (and sometimes also the rescuer) is suspended below a helicopter and flown to safety.
The three women, who were climbing without ropes, lost the route they were ascending on the East Face of Teewinot Mountain. The route is rated a class 4 and is frequently climbed without ropes, according to . But area they fell in had much more difficult terrain than the established route.
UPDATE: OCTOBER 8, 10:15 MDT: An earlier version of this article stated that the route was rated 5.4, but it is rated a class 4.