OKANOGAN COUNTY, WA (MyBellinghamNow.com) – The lone survivor of a climbing accident in the North Cascades endured a roughly 400-foot fall.

The 38-year-old Renton man was finally able to speak to investigators from his hospital bed on Wednesday, May 14.

He told them that his group’s anchor had pulled out of the rock face while they were rappelling down a steep gully on Sunday.

It sent all four climbers hundreds of feet down the mountainside and killed three of them.

The man lost consciousness for several hours after the fall and awoke with internal bleeding and head trauma.

Investigators say it took him eight hours to disentangle himself, work his way back to his car and drive to a payphone to call for help.

He and the three climbers who were killed were all friends and appeared to be fairly experienced.