Granite Peak Fall Victim Dies

The 19-year-old climber who fell from Granite Peak has died.  Thomas Craig Pfeifle of Rapid City, the son of two state judges, died Monday of injuries received in a mountain-climbing accident in Montana earlier this month.  The son of S.D. Seventh Circuit Court judges Craig Pfeifle and Jane Wipf Pfeifle of Rapid City — died at a Seattle hospital on Monday morning.
Pfeifle had been transported to Seattle after the Aug. 8 accident in which he had fallen 20 to 30 feet while climbing Granite Peak, Montana’s highest point.  Pfeifle was rescued by helicopter and flown to the Billings Clinic, then transported to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, where his condition was described as critical.  The Park County Sheriff said Pfeifle was near the summit of the mountain with at least four others.  The King County Medical Examiner said Pfeifle’s official cause of death had not yet been determined.