Navy chopper crew rescues hiker, recovers body of woman killed in fall in Olympics

Navy helicopter crews carried out two rescue missions over the weekend in Olympic National Park, bringing out an injured hiker on Saturday and the body of a woman who died after falling into a crevasse on Sunday.

In the first rescue, the Whidbey Island-based Navy chopper crew responded to a location near Mount Ellinor at about 4:45 p.m. Saturday after receiving a request to rescue a 71-year-old hiker who had fallen down a 300-foot ice chute and suffered possible leg and head injuries.

About 15 minutes after the crew arrived on scene, the clouds lifted enough for the helicopter to land two rescuers about 800 vertical feet below the patient.

With crampons, ice axes and their litter, the two crew members took about an hour to climb up the ice chute 800 feet to get to the patient. Meanwhile, the chopper pilots flew back to Boeing Field, refueled and returned to the scene.