Former Post Falls man dies on Mount McKinley
BILL BULEY | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 14 years, 6 months AGO
Bill Buley covers the city of Coeur d'Alene for the Coeur d’Alene Press. He has worked here since January 2020, after spending seven years on Kauai as editor-in-chief of The Garden Island newspaper. He enjoys running. | June 14, 2011 9:00 PM
A Post Falls High School graduate who died after climbing Mount McKinley on Friday was praised as an adventurer and someone who always had a kind word for others.
Brian Young, 52, died of an apparent heart attack Friday morning after descending from the summit of Mount McKinley, according to the National Park Service.
The Kodiak, Alaska, man was pronounced dead Friday at the mountain's high camp at the 17,200-foot level.
Young had just completed an arduous 20-hour summit day to the peak's 20,320-foot summit and back and was back in camp to sleep when he suddenly stopped breathing, the Park Service said.
The tent mates immediately notified the NPS mountaineering patrol stationed at high camp who began CPR. Young was pronounced deceased at 11 a.m. by an NPS volunteer physician assistant at high camp.
Tammie Peacock of Hayden graduated with Young from Post Falls High School in 1977.
She recalled he was always upbeat, kind and never in a bad mood.
"I don't recall him ever having a bad word for anyone," she said Monday.
Peacock said people who knew Young were surprised at his death and considered it a great loss. Young was an athlete in high school, ran track, and stayed in good shape.
"It's hard to believe," she said.
Dave Walker of Coeur d'Alene wrote on Facebook that his wife was a PFHS class of '77 graduate.
"He was an adventurer and summiting Denali on the last day of his life is better than how a lot of people go," Walker wrote. "You'll be remembered Brian."
Young's body will be recovered from high camp when weather permits, a release said.
According to Reuters new service, it was the fifth climber death this season on McKinley, North America's tallest peak, and the eighth climber death this season in Denali National Park.
The McKinley climbing season generally runs from late April until early July. About 1,200 to 1,300 people climb the mountain each year.
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