CAPE ELIZABETH (AP) – Friends and family gathered on a drizzly Saturday to mourn the death of Peter Cooley, who gashed his head after a 30-foot fall while climbing Mount Rainier in Washington a week earlier.

Hundreds of cars wrapped around St. Alban’s Episcopal Church as mourners filed into the building. Some brought gift bags and trays of food.

Inside, Peter Cooley’s brother John of New York City gave an account of his brother’s life from childhood to fatherhood. Peter Cooley, who was 39, was married and had three children.

His climbing partner Scott Richards, also of Cape Elizabeth, tried to save his friend after the fall May 15, when they became stranded at about 12,000 feet in freezing, whiteout conditions on a mountain where the weather is unpredictable at best.

The men were stranded for two days in strong winds and snow, with temperatures between 5 and 20 degrees. A rescue helicopter was finally able to pick up the injured man, but he died on the way to a hospital.

Cooley’s father, Sam, said he appreciated the outpouring of support for the family.

“We have never seen anything like it,” said Sam Cooley. “People have opened their houses and hearts to us – it is something we will never forget.”

Both Cooley and 42-year-old Richards were accomplished mountain climbers. Cooley was making his fourth ascent of Mount Rainier. Richards is a veteran of the French Alps.

In Washington, climbing ranger David Gottlieb, who scaled Mount Rainier with another rescuer while helicopters remained grounded, praised Richards’ efforts to keep his friend alive despite the life-threatening conditions.

“He really had what it took,” Gottlieb said.

Nearly 70 people participated in one of the most prolonged and harrowing rescue efforts on Mount Rainier, one of the most popular mountaineering destinations on the continent.

AP-ES-05-23-04 1231EDT