Park rangers rescue fallen Japanese climber at Alaska's Denali National Park

They send him a bill for the rescue,these rescue are not cheap and free

It is good that the climber was rescued! Hikers die every winter in the mountains around South Cal, at elevations less than half as high as where this hiker was rescued. There are still missing hikers from this last winter.

I wonder if oxygen deprivation played a part in the mishap? Climbing at that altitude is no joke. I remember feeling lightheaded while hiking the John Muir trail, in the Sierra Nevada mountains, and it is a lot lower than 16,000 feet. We stayed at a base camp at 7,000 feet for a few days, just to get acclimated to the altitude.

Oxygen is generally required for pilots who go above 10,000 feet! I have never hiked at 16,000 feet myself, but from what I have read, altitude sickness can be a life threatening problem that high. People have died at that altitude, even without falling down the mountain.

They send him a bill for the rescue,these rescue are not cheap and free

They will now examine his gear he had with him. If he had proper clothing, shelter (weather-rated tent or bivouac), low-temp sleeping bag, etc., he will NOT be charged for his rescue. It will be considered a reasonable predicament that occured in a permitted activity with known risks, for which he was properly prepared.

If they find that he was wearing jeans, carrying a Walmart sleeping bag, winter coat from the bargain bin at TJ-Max, and a bunch of cotton clothing, he'll get a hefty bill. Probably $8,000 per hour that the helicopter was in the air alone.

I was once saved by a Japan Coast Guard boat which answered to my PAN-PAN call. My sailboat, flying a New Zealand flag and on way from Taiwan to Fukuoka, was in distress near Goto Retto just inside the Sea of Japan in the tails of a typhoon when wind speed was 40-50 knots and my aux engine went dead. My crew hurt his spine and could not move. The JCG people towed us to a small fishing harbor and secured our boat properly; they were highly professional people, thoroughly kind too. I was not charged with any bill afterwards but was asked to fill out a form describing the incident.

National parks are federal land, thus under federal statutes and control. That goes for rescues.

There is a Denali State Park, but the actual twins are in the Federal land area. If properly prepared, he won't get any bill.

ref: https://content.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1892621,00.html

In the U.S., whether you have to pay depends on where exactly you are when you get into trouble. In any of the national parks, the government picks up the tab for your rescue. The National Park Service spends nearly $5 million annually on search and rescue (SAR) missions and that doesn't include the cost of hundreds of thousands of man hours that go into these searches. Yet unless rescuees violated a park rule — like trespassing into a protected archeological site, for example — they aren't responsible for the cost.

States can have different laws for their parks and protected forests.

In Europe, you are responsible for yourself, so expect a bill, always.

One of my hobbies is hiking around the world. Beware that standard travel insurance doesn't usually cover high-risk activities like remote hiking.

Denali is a 6-million acre (2.4-million hectare) park about a 120-mile (193-kilometer) drive north of Anchorage.

Not “Denali,” Mount McKinley is the proper noun…and name…for the park and the tallest mountain in North America.

An acquaintance of my partner who was rescued by helicopter in Japan had to pay $20000. Hope it’s free in Alaska…