Doctor lied about hypothermia for airlift off Alaska mountain, feds say. He’s banned now

A Utah doctor pretended that fellow climbers were experiencing hypothermia on Denali to try convincing rescuers into airlifting them off the Alaska mountain, federal officials say. It didn’t work, and now that doctor has been banned from climbing Denali for five years.

Jason Lance, 48, of Mountain Green must also pay $10,000 — half which will be donated to the Denali Rescue Volunteers, and half to cover his federal fine.

Lance was sentenced in federal court after he pleaded guilty to violating a lawful order while climbing Denali in May 2021, according to an April 1 news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Alaska.

Authorities previously said Lance had tried climbing the 20,310-foot mountain — with the highest peak in North America — alongside 31-year-old Adam Rawski, McClatchy News reported.

But as they climbed the mountain, officials say Rawski began experiencing altitude sickness.

The doctor then left his partner with other climbers to try and reach the summit on a solo climb, officials said in a news release. Before embarking by himself, though, authorities say Lance took Rawski’s Garmin inReach, a device that uses satellite to send messages.

Lance eventually “abandoned his solo summit attempt” and met back up with his partner and the two other hikers, court records say. Together, the four descended toward Denali Pass.

But later that evening, Lance learned Rawski, who was climbing behind him, had tumbled 1,000 feet down the Autobahn and became motionless.

In one of the park’s “most significant rescues,” authorities say Denali National Park’s high-altitude helicopter rescued the man and took him to get “life saving medical care” after multiple climbing teams reported his fall.

The other climbers were left to descend on their own.

About an hour after, Lance used Rawski’s inReach device to tell the International Emergency Response Coordination Center (IERCC) that his group of three had no injuries but needed evacuation assistance because they had no equipment after a climber fall, court documents say.

IERCC told him to reach out to Denali National Park, which had already rescued the injured hiker.

National Park Service officials told Lance, via Rawski’s device, to use rope to descend the mountain, court records say. Lance replied “we cannot safely descend.”

When rescuers said the helicopter would not be able to rescue Lance and his crew that night, officials say Lance lied and claimed patients were “in shock” and experiencing “early hypothermia.”

“Because medical shock is a serious and potentially fatal condition, Denali NPS launched a helicopter with rescue supplies to reach the three climbers, but did not at that point inform (Lance) it had done so,” authorities said. “Shortly after launch, the helicopter turned around because guides at 17,200ft camp reported that the three climbers were descending from Denali Pass under their own power.”

The other climbers later told officials nobody in their group had suffered hypothermia while on the mountain, according to court records. They also said they had to convince Lance to descend the mountain as he insisted that National Park Service was obligated to rescue them since “we’ve paid our fee.”

“Impeding the investigation of a near-fatal accident and attempting to secure helicopter rescue under misleading premises evinces a selfishness and indifference to the scarcity of public safety and rescue resources that is unacceptable anywhere, let alone on the tallest peak in North America,” said U.S. Attorney John E. Kuhn Jr. in the news release.

Brooke Merrell, acting superintendent for Denali National Park and Preserve, says rescues on Denali are dangerous for both rescuers and those being rescued.

“Any rescue above 14,000 feet is a serious endeavor and should not be taken lightly or be expected,” she said in the news release. “I would like to recognize and thank the Denali mountaineering rangers for the quick response and skillful rescue that saved a life related to this case last May. We are also grateful for the dedicated work of the Assistant U.S. Attorney’s office that brought this case to a successful conclusion.”

This story was originally published April 1, 2022 at 7:37 PM with the headline "Doctor lied about hypothermia for airlift off Alaska mountain, feds say. He’s banned now."