The group was climbing just east of Mt. Larrabee in the area of Pleiades Peaks, just south of the Canadian border. A search was launched with volunteers from Bellingham and Skagit mountain rescue teams.
Whatcom Sheriff's Deputy George Ratayczak, said the Pleiades have an elevation of about 7,320 feet at the summit. While reaching one of the east summits, Kloke grabbed a rock, which sheared away from the ground, and both the rock and Kloke fell off the summit down a vertical rock face, he said.
His teammates immediately dropped down as far as the could go and could not see Kioke. They hiked out to call for help.
On Sunday, rescuers climbed to a spot just below the south face of the Pleiades Peaks and tried to locate Kloke using telescopes. Several attempts were made to locate him from the air, but both efforts weren't successful because of the cloud cover.