Denali mountaineering rangers and volunteers assessed 34 patients during the 2024 climbing season. Among those, 27 patients were treated by National Park Service (NPS) personnel, and 25 required NPS evacuation. The remaining two were treated and released, and subsequently self-evacuated. The following list summarizes patients treated in 2024:  

Traumatic injuries: 18 cases (including two head injuries, one multisystem trauma, two extremity fractures, and two knee injuries)

Frostbite: nine cases (including several cases of severe/deep frostbite that resulted in amputations)

Medical: eight cases (including arterial thrombosis, mesenteric ischemia, Lyme disease, kidney stones, syncope, and minor infections)

High altitude cerebral edema (HACE) and high altitude pulmonary edema (HAPE): five cases, plus one case of acute mountain sickness (AMS)

Fatalities: three

Some patients had multiple diagnoses, resulting in a higher number of diagnoses than total patients. 

Most notable in the 2024 season was the severity of frostbite injuries treated. Frostbite is a preventable injury directly linked to poor decision-making. Climbers often underestimate the extended healing process and life-altering consequences of these injuries. A summit bid is never worth these potential outcomes. 

More information on prevention, recognition, and treatment of mountain maladies can be found online. Search: “Denali mountaineering handbook.”