Army helicopter rescues Canadian cop from Mount Rainier

SEATTLE -- The National Park Service says a member of Canada's national police force was rescued by an Army helicopter near the summit of Mount Rainier.

Our news partner The Seattle Times reports 27-year-old Dennis Endong Cui was hoisted from the top of Gibraltar's Rock on the south side of Mount Rainier Thursday afternoon.

The park service says Cui and two other climbers went up Fuhrer Finger Wednesday when Cui became ill and said he couldn't go on.

The three began heading down when Cui inexplicably "made a decision to unrope and head directly down mountain," apparently ignoring the others' protests.

The two other climbers called 911, then descended.

A Chinook flown by F Company 2-135th from Joint Base Lewis-McChord and parajumpers assigned to the 304th Rescue Squadron based in Portland made the rescue.

The park service says Cui was hypothermic and flown to a Tacoma hospital.