Bodies of 2 American Climbers Found in Argentina

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/07/world/americas/bodies-of-2-american-climbers-found-in-argentina.html

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BUENOS AIRES — Two bodies discovered at the bottom of a 650-foot ravine on a mountain in Argentina are believed to be those of two missing American climbers, a local government official said Monday.

The Americans, Francis Keenan, 28, from Pennsylvania, and Jarod Von Rueden, 22, from Wisconsin, were trying to scale Mount Aconcagua, the highest mountain in the Americas at nearly 23,000 feet, when Mr. Von Rueden sent out a distress signal from his radio on Dec. 31.

Search and rescue efforts, delayed by storms, found only the climbers’ belongings and safety ropes. On Sunday, a helicopter sighted two bodies on the mountain’s glacial upper slopes. The climbers are thought to have fallen.

Rescue workers were trying to retrieve the bodies, the official said.

Aconcagua draws thousands of foreign trekkers every year.