Climber loved Mount Rainier, died there

Eduard Burceag, a 31-year-old Seattle engineer who died of exposure early Tuesday after getting caught in a fierce blizzard on Mount Rainier, was finally brought down the mountain late Wednesday afternoon.

Burceag, his wife Mariana Burceag, also 31, and his colleague and friend Daniel Vlad, 35, were trapped by blinding snow Monday near Anvil Rock, about a half-mile from Camp Muir.

The three had set out on a day hike but were caught off guard by 70 mph gusts and 5-foot snow drifts that forced them to spend the night on the Muir snowfield, according to officials at Mount Rainier National Park.

All three were experienced mountaineers, and Vlad told park officials he and his friends shared "a passion for the mountain." 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," said park spokesman Kevin Bacher.

Tuesday morning, Vlad hiked to Camp Muir, the midway point between Paradise and the summit, and was able to guide rangers to the couple. Eduard Burceag was unconscious by then and later died at the camp. Mariana Burceag and Vlad both suffered hypothermia and frostbite.

Because of concerns over re-exposing the two hikers to the cold, they spent Tuesday night at Camp Muir before a break in the weather allowed a Fort Lewis helicopter to fly them out early Wednesday.

They were flown to Madigan Army Medical Center at Fort Lewis and then taken by ambulance to Seattle's Harborview Medical Center, arriving around 10:30 a.m., said hospital spokeswoman Susan Gregg-Hanson.

They were treated and released a couple of hours later, but doctors want to keep an eye on their frostbite, so both will return to a hospital clinic next week for follow-up treatment, she said.

A private helicopter was hired to lift Eduard Burceag's body off the mountain, but bad weather hampered that effort. About 5 p.m., rangers took his body down by sled, said park spokeswoman Monica Magari.

According to an online-business-networking profile, Eduard Burceag was originally from Romania and worked for Active Voice, a Seattle-based company that specializes in helping companies transition from voice mail to unified-computer communications and messaging.

The company's Web site says that Vlad, who has worked for Active Voice since 2000, is the general manager of its engineering department. He, too, is from Romania and earned his degree from the Polytechnic University of Bucharest in artificial intelligence and speech and image recognition, according to the site. Vlad could not be reached Wednesday evening.

Company officials did not want to comment on the tragedy, said a woman who answered the phone at Active Voice on Wednesday.

A woman who answered the door at Eduard and Mariana Burceag's Interbay town house declined to be interviewed. But neighbors confirmed the couple and their two young sons moved in about a year ago.

"It seemed she was a stay-at-home mom and he was the breadwinner. They're a super sweet family," said a woman who asked not to be identified. "They're a totally active family and really into camping."

Her husband said he often saw Eduard Burceag playing with his sons, just hanging out or racing remote-control cars in the driveway.

"I talked to him Sunday and he said he had the day off [on Monday]," said the man, who also asked not to be named. "He's a great guy. I know he managed a team of developers at Active Voice."

The man said he had noticed all kinds of "random cars" in front of the house over the past couple of days but just thought friends were housesitting while the family was out of town.

"This is really sad news," his wife said.

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