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June 13, 2009

Mankato doc dies on Mt. McKinley

He, companion fell into crevasse

By Dan Linehan

MANKATO — A Mankato surgeon who died Thursday while climbing Alaska’s Mount McKinley was remembered for the confident, calming effect he brought to the Orthopaedic & Fracture Clinic, fellow surgeon Scott Stevens said.

Andrew Swanson, 36, was roped to climber and 39-year-old doctor John Mislow of Newton, Mass., who also died. They fell into a snow gully called Messner Couloir, according to the National Park Service.

“He was one of those people that would come in the morning with a smile, he’d have a smile in the middle of the day and still would be smiling at the end of the day, no matter what his day was like,” Stevens said.

His death was felt even more acutely at the clinic, as Swanson is the son of Dr. Gene Swanson and the brother of Dr. Kyle Swanson, both of whom are orthopedic surgeons at the clinic. Neither was present Friday at a press briefing.

At 20,320 feet, Mount McKinley is North America’s tallest peak, but both men were experienced and responsible climbers.

In 2000, they shared the National Park Service’s Denali Pro award, which is given to climbers who put others’ needs ahead of their own.

According to the parks service, “their good humor, selfless behavior and respect for the mountain earned them this award.”

The precise cause of their deaths were unclear, though other climbers saw the men falling between a 16,500-foot elevation and a camp at 14,500 feet.

They were roped to each other, which usually allows climbers to stop a partner who falls, said Kris Fister, a public affairs officer at the park. It’s not known what caused Swanson and Mislow to fall.

Three nearby skiers were the first to reach their bodies, the Associated Press reported.

Stevens described his colleague as having an “even keel” type of personality, and he “never got the feeling that he was an adrenaline junkie out for the next thrill.”

Deaths on McKinley are infrequent, Fister said.

One climber died this year, of a heart attack, and four climbers died last year, two of whom also had heart attacks.

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