When helicopter crews in Western Washington were unavailable Sunday, a team from the Spokane area jumped into action to rescue three hikers from a peak in the Central Cascades.
The call for help came after a fourth member of the hiking group, 61-year-old Ann Nelson, lost her footing on a narrow path and fell to her death on Iron Cap Mountain.
Nelson was an experienced hiker and an accomplished physics professor at the University of Washington, known for speaking out against a lack of diversity among faculty in her department.
Nelson’s husband, David Kaplan, who is also a UW physics professor, was with her for Sunday’s hike along with two friends, the Seattle Times reported. Nelson died before Kaplan reached the spot where she had fallen, the Times reported.