The incident occurred on February 19 in the middle of the Cascade Mountains near Lake Colchak, 70 miles east of Seattle.
On Tuesday, May 30, the Chelan County Sheriff’s Office announced that the body of 60-year-old Jeannie Lee of Bayside, Queens had been found.
Authorities identified the other two as Seong Cho, 54, a Connecticut resident and a Korean national living in West Hartford, and Yun Park, 66, of Palisades Park, New Jersey.
The day after the avalanche, a 56-year-old Maryland man contacted deputies and said six members of his group were attempting to scale Kolchak while he remained at their base camp.
As the group was climbing a steep ravine on the mountain, the lead climber triggered an avalanche, officials said. Four climbers were swept down the mountain about 500 feet, three of them were killed.
A fourth climber, a 56-year-old New York man, was not life-threatening, according to deputies. He was able to hike back to base camp with a 50-year-old New York man and a 36-year-old New Jersey man, neither of whom was injured.
When the group returned to base camp, they sent this Maryland man for help.
Sheriff officials said nearly two dozen rescuers from at least five different agencies responded, but they determined avalanche conditions were too dangerous to attempt to get close to the deceased climber.
In an update Tuesday, May 30, sheriff officials said a Chelan County Mountain Rescue volunteer was hiking in the area when Lee’s body was found the previous day.
The snow in the area has melted significantly due to recent warm weather.
The volunteer hiked to the top of the Kolchak Glacier and was able to call emergency dispatchers, who dispatched a sheriff’s office helicopter to the scene.
Lee’s remains have been turned over to the Chelan County Coroner’s Office for official identification and a cause of death determination, the sheriff’s office said.
Rescuers had still not located Parker’s body as of Tuesday afternoon, citing dangerous conditions that prevented a thorough search.
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