Marblemount, WA – The Skagit County Sheriff’s Office responded to reports of a hiker who fell several hundred feet to her death while hiking in the Forbidden Peak area of the North Cascades near Marblemount on Saturday, July 22nd, 2017.
Photo: Mountaineers.org
The hiker has been identified as 61-year old Susan “Sue” Bennett of Bellingham. Sue had been hiking with three other people when the accident happened as the group was descending the West Ridge of Forbidden Peak. A member of the climbing party activated a personal locator beacon ( PLB) to initiate an emergency response but sadly Sue died from her injuries.
The Skagit County Sheriff’s Office notified Park Officials and a helicopter rescue crew was called in from the Mount Rainier National Park. The rescue crew located the victim who had fallen several hundred feet into a 30-foot crevasse in Forbidden Glacier. Parks Officials were coordinating the recovery of her body doe the steep and rugged terrain.
Sue was a Pediatric Dental Hygienist at Galbraith Mountain Dentistry and lived in Bellingham most her life. She was a member of the Bellingham Branch of the Seattle Based climbing organization called The Mountaineers. She was an active part of the local Climbing Community since 2002 and was a volunteer leader and board member in the Mountaineers Bellingham Branch. She received last year’s Branch Service Award for her leadership and dedication.
According to mountaineers.org, in the past four years Sue has led students on 44 climbs and educational field trips, including 12 successful trips in 2017 alone. Read more about Sue on the Mountaineers Blog by clicking here.
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