Hiker who died on Mount Rainier identified

The hiker who died on Mount Rainier Tuesday was identified this afternoon as Eduard Burceag, a 31-year-old Seattle engineer.

His wife, 31-year-old Mariana Burceag, and friend, 35-year-old Daniel Vlad, suffered hypothermia and frostbite. They were flown off the mountain by helicopter this morning — bad weather stalled that effort Tuesday — and have been treated and released from Seattle's Harborview Medical Center.

About 5 p.m., rangers took Eduard Burceag's body down by sled, park officials said.

Kevin Bacher, a spokesman for Mount Rainier National Park, said Mariana Burceag and Vlad were rescued from Camp Muir with a climbing ranger about 6:15 a.m. and they were in good condition. The two were flown to Madigan Army Medical Center in Tacoma and from there, were transported by ambulance to Harborview. They arrived around 10:30 a.m., were treated for frost bite and then released early this afternoon, said hospital spokeswoman Susan Gregg-Hanson. Both will return to a hospital clinic next week for follow-up treatment.

"They were here a couple of hours. The good news is they weren't admitted" but doctors still want to monitor their healing, she said.

Bacher said the warm shelter and hot food helped the survivors recover from hypothermia.

Because of the extent of the survivors' injuries, rescuers didn't want to hike them down the mountain Tuesday because that would re-expose them to the cold, Bacher said.

The three hikers were considered experienced mountaineers. They set off on a day hike on Monday and reached Camp Muir, which at 10,000 feet is the halfway point between Paradise and the summit.

Vlad told park officials he and his friends shared "a passion for the mountain," Bacher said. Vlad and Eduard Burceag summitted Mount Rainier two years ago.

"They felt they were ready for the conditions but the weather was much worse than they expected," Bacher said.

A fierce storm blew in as the trio was heading down the mountain on Monday. They made it to Anvil Rock on the Muir Snowfield, about a half-mile from Camp Muir, said Bacher.

""They were prepared for a day on the mountain," he said. "They weren't prepared for a blizzard with 70 mile per hour winds and five-foot snow drifts in June. The magnitude of the storm took us all by surprise."

He said he thought the three may have built a snow cave for shelter. One of them called 911 from a cellphone but couldn't get through. They tried again around midnight, but the connection was so bad that a park ranger couldn't make out the information. The hikers were finally able to notify rangers that they needed help around 3:30 a.m. Tuesday.

"We knew at midnight something was going on, but we weren't able to talk to them until 3:30," Bacher said.

Even then, it was too dangerous to send rescuers to try to find the trio, who couldn't say exactly where they were because of the darkness and blinding snow, he said.

Around 7:15 a.m., Vlad "made it up to Camp Muir through the blizzard and was able to lead our rangers and some guides down to the location where the other two [the husband and wife] were sheltered," Bacher said.

Rescuers reached Anvil Rock within 15 minutes. But by then, the condition of one of the hikers "was grave," he said.

By 8:30 a.m., all three hikers had been taken back to Camp Muir. The survivors were under the care of three doctors who were in a climbing party that had spent Monday night with their guides and park rangers at Camp Muir, Bacher said. Eduard Burceag died at Camp Muir.

On Monday, cloudy conditions on Mount Rainier deteriorated over the course of the day.

"The weather can change quickly up there. This isn't the first time very experienced people have been caught off guard," he said. "Those conditions can overwhelm even the most-experienced and best-prepared climbers."

Bacher didn't fault the hikers for attempting their hike.

"The weather was poor, but the bottom line is, this is the Pacific Northwest. If you don't go out in bad weather you'd never get out of the house. These people were familiar with the mountain and confident of their ability. They'd spent a lot of time in inclement weather in the mountains."

Sara Jean Green: 206-515-5654 or sgreen@seattletimes.com