The snow storm this past weekend proved fatal for a climber in Tuolumne Meadows.

Adrienne Freeman, with Yosemite National Park, reports that on Saturday two climbers set out to climb Cathedral Peak, about four miles from Tuolumne Meadows.

Before the two climbers set out on Saturday they told a ranger that they planned to be back after dark, but Freeman reports that the climb took them a lot longer than they anticipated. Conditions deteriorated with cold wind and then sleet and snow as the two climbed late into the night and into early Sunday morning. Both climbers made it to the top of the route and started to descend, according to Freeman.

At about 7:30 in the morning on Sunday, one of the climbers made it out to the highway and flagged down a ranger on patrol. Yosemite Search and Rescue responded and recovered the body of the second climber near the trail in the Budd Creek drainage. Freeman reports that the climber appeared to have died of exposure and hypothermia.

The second climber was uninjured but fortunate to make it out, according to Freeman.

The name of the deceased has been withheld until the family can be notified.

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