Climber Survives Horrific 400-Foot Fall That Killed 3 Others

In a harrowing tale of survival and tragedy, one climber managed to survive a 400-foot fall in Washington’s treacherous North Cascades mountains that killed his three companions — and then hiked through the night with internal bleeding to find help using a pay phone.

The climber, 38-year-old Anton Tselykh, is now recovering in a Seattle hospital after what authorities are calling an “extraordinary survival against impossible odds.”

The Fall

The group of four climbers — Tselykh, Vishnu Irigireddy (48), Tim Nguyen (63), and Oleksander Martynenko (36) — were descending the jagged Early Winters Spires on Saturday evening when their anchor system failed catastrophically.

“They were rappelling down when a piton — a metal spike used as a climbing anchor — appears to have pulled loose from the rock,” said Okanogan County Coroner Dave Rodriguez. “That caused all four men to fall. The first 200 feet was essentially a sheer drop. After that, they tumbled another 200 feet through a steep, slanted gulch.”

Authorities believe the group may have decided to turn back after spotting an approaching storm. The climbers had been using an existing piton likely placed years earlier — and that may have cost them their lives.

The Survivor’s Trek for Help

Miraculously, Tselykh survived the fall. Buried in a mess of tangled ropes and broken equipment, he managed to free himself despite suffering serious head trauma and internal injuries. “He was able to get up, orient himself, and somehow make it down the mountain and back to his vehicle — all in the dark,” said Okanogan County Undersheriff Dave Yarnell.

But Tselykh didn’t stop there. With no cell service in the remote wilderness, he drove until he found a pay phone and called for help — nearly 12 hours after the accident.

“He shouldn’t have made it,” said Yarnell. “It’s a miracle he did.”

Rescue and Recovery

On Sunday, a three-person search and rescue team used GPS data from a tracking device the climbers had been carrying — shared by a friend — to locate the bodies. Due to the rough terrain, a helicopter was called in to recover the deceased one at a time.

Back at base, investigators examined the climbing gear to determine what went wrong. A piton still clipped into the group’s ropes was found — but it had apparently torn free from the rock.

“There’s no other way it would have been connected to the rope unless it ripped out,” said Rodriguez. “That anchor wasn’t holding anyone anymore.”

A Warning from the Climbing Community

Pitons, once hammered into cracks in rock, are often left behind for others. But they aren’t fail-proof. “This one looked old and weathered,” said Cristina Woodworth, who heads the sheriff’s search and rescue unit. “The rest of their gear looked new, so we’re assuming it was an old piton.”

Experts say rappelling off a single piton — especially one not personally tested or backed up with other anchors — is risky. “You never trust your life to one piece of metal in the wall,” said Joshua Cole, a veteran guide and co-owner of North Cascades Mountain Guides. “You always use redundancy.”

Cole, who has climbed the Early Winters Spires for two decades, described the route as “moderate but constantly shifting,” with conditions varying wildly due to weather. “Snow one week, ice the next, then bare rock. It changes the entire challenge.”

Questions Remain

Officials have not yet been able to speak with Tselykh due to his injuries. “We hope, once he recovers more, to hear what exactly happened up there,” said Woodworth.

For now, the tragedy serves as a sobering reminder of the risks climbers take — and the rare strength it takes to survive when everything goes wrong.