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Norway man feared dead after US mountain climbing trip

The Local Norway
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Norway man feared dead after US mountain climbing trip
The Mount Rainier National Park presumes that the man is dead. Photo: Leonardo Stabile/Flickr"

A 58-year-old man from Norway is assumed to have died from hypothermia and exposure while climbing Mount Rainier in the US state of Washington, the Associated Press reported.

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The Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs told national broadcaster NRK that it was aware of the situation and had notified the man’s family. 
 
According to the AP, the man was hiking with a 41-year-old Canadian woman on Saturday when they were forced to take shelter from an intense winter storm that hit the area. 
 
Mount Rainier National Park spokeswoman Patti Wold said that the woman was able to partially descend the mountain on Sunday. She was spotted by fellow climbers and escorted to a base camp located at a height of some 3,000 metres on Mount Rainier’s southern slope. 
 
“It’s hard to see how he would have survived,” Wold told AP. Temperatures reportedly reached as low as -17C while she and the Norwegian man spent Saturday night on the mountain. 
 
A helicopter crew and other rescuers were unable to reach the Norwegian man on Monday because of poor weather conditions. According to Wold, the helicopter was able to obtain a visual on the man but he did not react, leading the national park to say on Monday that they presume that he had died. 
 
Rescue operations were to continue on Tuesday but bad weather conditions were once again expected to make the mission difficult. 
 
The man’s identity and home town have not been publicly released. 

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