Lost skier found atop Hurricane Hill

PORT ANGELES – A Port Townsend man who lost his way near Hurricane Hill on Saturday was found safe in the freezing, snowy Hurricane Ridge area at about 1 p.m. on Sunday.

Randy Kraxberger, 53, skied out of the wilderness alongside the Olympic National Park search team after having slept in a snow cave overnight with temperatures in the teens.

“I went from the most low recesses to the greatest euphoria when I saw them struggling through the snow toward me,” he said Sunday from the park’s emergency operations center on Park Avenue in Port Angeles.

ADVERTISEMENT
0 seconds of 0 secondsVolume 0%
Press shift question mark to access a list of keyboard shortcuts
00:00
00:00
00:00
 

When he heard rescuers’ voices in the early afternoon on Sunday, he didn’t know whether to believe his ears.

“I thought, is this real?” he said.

Kraxberger – who is on a winter break from his job as a commercial halibut and black cod fisherman in Alaska, living in Port Townsend, his home for 26 years – set out to simply enjoy a day’s cross-country skiing up to Hurricane Hill, which is past the Hurricane Ridge Visitor Center.

He had skied, alone, to the summit of Hurricane Hill before weather conditions worsened.

In white-out conditions and high wind, Kraxberger lost sight of the trail and wasn’t sure where he was.

“It had started snowing and the tracks got covered up fairly fast, and I got a little disoriented, thinking I was a little further east than I actually was,” he said.

He called his wife of 30 years, Lisa Enarson, on his cell phone at about 3:15 p.m. Saturday, asking her for the Visitor Center phone number.

Enarson phoned the park headquarters and rangers began a search with a team of 12 rescuers on skis.

Kraxberger made sporadic cell-phone contact with searchers, but the phone cut off after only a few words, said Larry Nickey, park emergency operations coordinator, on Saturday .

His phone did not have a GPS locator, Nickey said.

Park spokeswoman Barb Maynes said Saturday that two searchers had tried skiing beyond the section of road that serves as the cross-country ski trail, but that they turned around because of wind gusts of 45 mph, low visibility and high avalanche danger.

More in News

Parker Brocious, 6, from Cedar Hills, Utah, studies tubs containing plankton, krill and other small ocean creatures used by the Port Townsend Marine Science Center for education purposes while on a road trip with his family on Tuesday at Fort Worden State Park. Parker’s father Tyler is at left. (Steve Mullensky/for Peninsula Daily News)
Science education

Parker Brocious, 6, from Cedar Hills, Utah, studies tubs containing plankton, krill… Continue reading

Port Angeles approves lodging tax fund requests

Vacancy on committee brings legal questions

OMC hires family medicine physician

Dr. Calvin Kuo will join hospital in August

Colton Dufour, left, and his mom Cherie Tachell. (Cherie Tachell)
Boy seriously injured following hit-and-run

Condition is stable, but more testing underway for Sequim teenager

Applications open for Forks council seat

The Forks City Council is accepting applications to fill a… Continue reading

Bridge inspections set on Hood Canal

Bridge preservation engineers from the state Department of Transportation will… Continue reading

Port Townsend Farmers Market opens Saturday

Farm-fresh eggs, mexican pastries and smoked fish available

Adella Banning, 6, of Port Angeles pretends to take to the road on a all-terrain vehicle maintained by Clallam County Search and Rescue during Saturday’s Kiwanis Kids Fest at Vern Burton Community Center and a section of adjoining Fourth Street. The event featured numerous public safety displays as well as other youth activities hosted by area community service agencies. (Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News)
Kids Fest

Adella Banning, 6, of Port Angeles pretends to take to the road… Continue reading

Clallam letter details Trump administration impacts

Clallam cites economy, tourism, healthcare

Rhonda Kromm is the new Port Angeles School District assistant superintendent. She replaces Michelle Olsen, the newly hired superintendent.
First bonds issued for develop plans for PAHS, Franklin Elementary

Construction at new Stevens Middle School to start in May

UPS Store closing Port Angeles location

UPS is closing its UPS Customer Center at 3216… Continue reading

Single-lane traffic near Kalaloch Campground

Erosion near Kalaloch Campground has caused a temporary lane closure… Continue reading