Paul Williams, 80, Adventurer
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Paul Williams, a climber and adventurer who helped create modern mountain rescue methods, died December 21 in Kitsap County, Wash. He was 80.
Williams reached the summit of Mount Rainier at least nine times, searched for Noah’s Ark in Turkey and trekked through the Arctic in search of the remains of 19th-century British explorer John Franklin.
Williams was best remembered for setting up Seattle Mountain Rescue. A guide he wrote for dealing with mountain accidents is still used today.
Family members said he eagerly re sponded to every emergency, from minor calls to help a missing skier in the Cascades to the famous John Day rescue on Alaska’s Mount McKinley in 1960, when dozens of climbers from Washington and Oregon went to Alaska to help rescue climbers from Seattle.
He only stopped scaling peaks at age 60, after watching a piece of ice-climbing equipment bounce into an abyss.
Williams was an attorney and writer who lived in Seattle, raising eight kids.