Hiker dies in climbing accident

A 67-year-old Great Falls man died in a fall from Ahern Pass in Glacier National Park on Saturday.

Park officials are making sure all family members are notified before they release the man’s identity.

A 67-year-old Great Falls man died in a fall from Ahern Pass in Glacier National Park on Saturday.

Park officials are making sure all family members are notified before they release the man's identity.

According to a news release from the park, the man had been hiking with four others and had climbed Iceberg Notch earlier in the day. Two of the party broke off; the remaining three planned to use goat trails to climb down to Ptarmigan Tunnel, and then return to Many Glacier Campground, where they were staying.

The victim had climbed the Ahern Pass route before and separated from the other two to take the route again. The other two, one of which was his 38 year-old-son, chose a different route.

The victim was climbing down from Ahern Pass near Helen Lake east of the Continental Divide when he fell some 300 feet around 2 p.m. Saturday.

A group of hikers, including a park employee, witnessed the fall.

The employee made his way to the victim after sending the rest of the party to Granite Park Chalet to get help. While climbing to the victim, the employee spotted another park employee and yelled to him for help. The two made their way to the victim and found he had suffered major injuries, and the fall had been fatal.

The employee who saw the man fall stayed with the victim while the second employee hiked out. Along the way, he encountered the other two people who had been hiking with the victim. After being told there had been an accident, they made their way to the victim.

Saturday evening the victim, the other two hikers and some park employees were flown from the scene of the accident by Minuteman Aviation.