Utah climber fined, banned for making false rescue claim

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A Utah physician was fined and banned from climbing Mt. Denali for five years after he made false claims to get himself and his friends  rescued off the mountain, the Anchorage Daily News reported. U.S. Magistrate Judge Scott A. Oravec ordered Dr. Jason Lance, 48, to pay a $5,000 fine and donate $5,000 to the Denali Rescue Volunteers during a sentencing hearing Thursday in Fairbanks, according to a spokeswoman for the Alaska U.S. Attorney’s Office. Oravec at the hearing “noted the seriousness of the case given the extremely dangerous environment in which the defendant impeded the investigation,” according to a statement from federal prosecutors.