Bellingham Man Dies In Alaska Climb

TALKEETNA, Alaska - A 38-year-old Bellingham man has died while climbing on Moonflower Buttress, an extremely steep face of ice and rock on Mount Hunter in Denali National Park and Preserve.

Steve Mascioli died about 5 p.m. Friday when a block of ice and snow fell on him, the National Park Service said.

Mascioli was climbing beneath his partner, Alan Kearney, also of Bellingham, when the accident occurred, said a Park Service spokesman.

Mascioli is the ninth climber to die on Mount Hunter; the seventh in the past four years.