Oklahoma Woman Dead After Becoming Stranded During Snowstorm In The Enchantments Near Leavenworth
An out-of-state woman is dead and her husband is recovering, after the pair became stranded in foul weather while hiking in the Enchantments area near Leavenworth over the weekend.
The Chelan County Sheriff's Office says the couple sent out a distress call via text message at 5:26 p.m. on Sunday, saying they were stranded in the "core zone" of the Enchantments and that the woman had become immobilized and her husband was unable to carry her out.
Sheriff's officials say the pair made their call for help from an elevation of between 7,000-8,000 feet about 8-10 miles from the trailhead, and that the area had been inundated by a significant amount of snowfall throughout the day.
The couple also reported that their clothing had become completely soaked and they were not in possession of any gear to weather the persistent storm or camp in the area overnight.
Less than 20 minutes later, the man communicated to the Sheriff's Office that his wife was under an emergency blanket in up to two feet of snowfall, and rescue crews determined the best mode for retrieving the couple would be through the use of a helicopter when weather conditions improved.
However, given the state of the couple's distress and the deteriorating conditions, a team of ground rescuers from Chelan County Mountain Rescue was quickly assembled and dispatched to the location.
While the terrestrial crews were en route, a U.S. Army helicopter was launched out of Yakima at around 8 p.m., but was unable to fly into the Enchantments area due to persistently-unfavorable weather conditions.
The helicopter tried a second time to reach the couple at around 10:50 p.m., but was once again unsuccessful due to the weather, and ground rescuers finally reached the pair at around 3:30 a.m. the following day.
Upon their arrival at the scene, they discovered that the woman was deceased, while the man was suffering from severe hypothermia.
Crews were able to warm the man inside a tent and a helicopter was finally able to reach the location later in the morning to retrieve him.
He was flown to the Leavenworth National Fish Hatchery at 8:39 a.m. and transferred to a waiting ambulance for transport to Cascade Medical Center in Leavenworth for further treatment.
At around 9:47 a.m., the Sheriff's Office ordered an additional flight to recover the woman's body, which was completed by 11 a.m. along with the transfer of her remains to the Chelan County Coroner's Office.
Sheriff's officials have identified the deceased hiker as 45-year-old Cybil Claborn of Oklahoma City, Okla.
Her body is now in the care of the Coroner's Office, who is still in the process of determining her exact cause and manner of death.