Rocky Mount climber dies in fall in Grand Teton National Park

The National Park Service says the accident occurred around 11 a.m. Saturday on the 12,300-foot Teewinot Mountain, the sixth-tallest peak in the Teton Range.

The agency identified the victims as Tyler Strandberg and Catherine Nix, both 28 and both women living in Jackson, Wyo. Their bodies were recovered from a rocky ledge at an elevation of about 11,500 feet.

A third member of the climbing party, 26-year-old Rebecca Anderson of Jackson, was rescued unhurt from a small ledge.

Strandberg was originally from Rocky Mount. Her grandfather is former Lt. Gov. Jim Gardner, and her aunt is the wife of former state House Speaker Joe Hackney. Her mother works for Gov. Pat McCrory's office.

Betsy Strandberg Hackney said her niece graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2005 with a degree in psychology and moved to Wyoming to take part in extreme sports. She said Strandberg was an excellent athlete who skied and ran marathons.

"She was a wonderful, sweet, dear young woman," Betsy Hackney said.

The three women were attempting to ascend the East Face of the mountain and were well off the preferred route when the two fell, the Park Service said, adding that they weren't using ropes at the time.