For the first time since the fall that killed three, the 38-year-old Seattle man spoke by phone to an Okanogan County search and rescue member.

According to the Okanagan County Sheriff’s Office, a group from Renton was descending into a steep gully when they fell.

The surviving climber extricated himself from a tangle of equipment after the fall, hiked to his car in the dark and then drove to a pay phone to call for help.