PORTLAND (AP) – After two harrowing days trapped on an icy ledge on Washington’s Mount Rainier that ended in the death of his friend and climbing companion, a tired and sad Scott Richards was back in Maine on Thursday.

Richards said his first stop after arriving Wednesday night at Portland International Jetport was to see Allene Cooley, the wife of Peter Cooley, the 39-year-old climber who died Monday after being picked up by a National Guard helicopter.

“My priority was getting him off that mountain. I wanted to get him off that mountain,” Richards said.

As the two Cape Elizabeth men sat in their tent 10,000 feet up the mountain the night before Cooley’s 30-foot fall, Cooley had talked about how much he cared for his family, Richards recalled.

He described the Saturday accident as a terrible tragedy that he was still trying to make sense of.

“I feel a little tired, a little wiped out, and sad, very sad,” Richards said.

Richards, 42, was flown off the mountain Tuesday and returned to Maine with his wife Pam and a family friend. He had undergone a medical exam and appeared to be in good condition, officials at Mount Rainier National Park said.

Cooley suffered a severe head injury in the fall, 12,300 feet up the snowy 14,410-foot mountain. The climbers were stranded on a 45-degree slope with steep and rocky terrain above and below them. Temperatures dipped below zero in whiteout conditions.

Cooley, who had three children ranging in age from 6 to 11, moved to Maine in 1994 and worked as a marketing director for Idexx Laboratories in Westbrook. He and Richards were well-known in Cape Elizabeth, where they coached youth sports and took part in other community activities.

Cooley will be remembered at a memorial service Saturday at St. Alban’s Church in Cape Elizabeth.



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