Glacier hotel worker, 21, dies in fall at Grinnell Point

A 21-year-old California man died Thursday morning in a fall while climbing near Grinnell Point in the northeast area of Glacier Park.

According to a park press release, rangers recovered the body of Matthew Needham Thursday afternoon. Needham was climbing the mountain with two other Many Glacier Hotel employees when he fell at least 60 feet to his death. 

At 11:18 a.m., park dispatch received a report from a Glacier Park Boat Co. employee that a climber had fallen from below Grinnell Point near Lake Josephine in the Many Glacier Valley. A group of eight hikers later reported they found the climber, but did not see signs of life. The area in which the fall took place is very steep, with cliffs and rocky terrain. 

Park rangers traveled to the vicinity of the incident by helicopter via Minute Man Aviation and located the climber’s body. A helicopter was utilized to recovery the body. Death was confirmed by rangers at approximately 2:30 p.m.

The Glacier County Coroner confirmed the death and the body was transported to a local funeral home. The incident is under investigation by the National Park Service.

Thursday's fatality is the fourth involving a fall in Glacier Park in the past month — and the second climbing death in the Many Glacier area involving an employee of Many Glacier Hotel.

On July 9, a cook at Many Glacier Hotel plunged 1,000 feet to his death on Apikuni Mountain in Glacier National Park. Cesar Flores Jr., 21, from Davie, Fla., was climbing the mountain with three other hotel workers when he fell to his death. 

On July 12, the body of Cody Johnson, 25, of Kalispell was found below The Loop on Going-to-the-Sun Road in Glacier. Johnson, who died of a fall, had been missing for five days before his body was found.

On June 26, Charles Fred Huseman, 64, of Packwood, Wash., slipped and fell 100 feet to his death from the closed, snow-covered Highline Trail near Logan Pass.