52-Year Old Ohio Hiker Dies After Falling Near Deadly Donoho Peak In Wrangell-St. Elias National Park

Root Glacier & Donoho Peak In Wrangell-St. Elias. (Photo for the Journal, Neil Hannan) 

University Professor Dies Only 
A Month After Similar Park Incident 

Donoho Peak, near Root Glacier, is evidently a pretty dangerous place There's a trail to the peak, beginning at Root Glacier near the Kennicott townsite, which is marked "strenuous" by Wrangell-St. Elias National Park on its website. 

In just 30 days, two major hiking disasters have taken place in that area, one at the end of May, and the other at the end of June. Coincidentally, there have been several other major rescues in Wrangell-St. Elias Park – all within a 30-day period. 

Hiking Donoho Peak

On its website, the National Park Service says that the 14 mile hike roundtrip from the town of Kennicott to the Donoho summit takes "1-2 days."  

The Donoho Peak route starts at the Root Glacier Trail, and crosses the Bonanza Creek footbridge, the Park Service website says. Hikers are told to put on clamps and carry ice axes or trekking poles when they go "across the rolling ice for the approximately 1.5 mile walk west northwest across the Root Glacier."

"You will need to negotiate morainal material and various non-technical snowy/icy slopes. Aim for the low spot between Donoho Peak and the 3,100' hill at the south end of the peninsula dividing the Root and Kennicott Glaciers, " the National Park website says, about the hike. 

Hikers on a glacier at Kennicott. (Photo for the Journal, Robert Gaucher) 

June 25th Death Near Donoho Peak 

On June 25th, 2021 at around 6:32 pm, Glennallen State Troopers got a report that a hiker had fallen in the mountains near McCarthy. According to Troopers, the caller said the hiker, who was part of a group of six hiking near Donohoe Peak, had asked for help – and then rolled down a steep slope and had died.

The next day, Saturday, June 26th, Troopers and the National Park Service used a Park Service Fire Pro helicopter to recover the dead hiker's body and to return the other hikers to the town of McCarthy, Troopers said.

David Shrider (Farmer School website) 

The man was identified as David Shrider, 52. Professor David Shrider of Oxford, Ohio, was Director of Global Business Initiatives at the Miami (Ohio) University Farmer School of Business. He was named Outstanding Professor at the University in May, 2020. 

Bad Year For Park Rescues 

This has not been a good year. On May 26th, a hiker slid off a cliff near Donoho Peak and required a major rescue.

A few days later, two people in a Cessna 182 that crashed had to be rescued near Mt. Hawkins in Wrangell-St. Elias. 

And the next day, 12 mountaineers were dramatically rescued in Wrangell-St. Elias.

(See earlier rescue stories by using the Journal Archives.)