To Daihong Chen, mountains weren’t meant to be conquered — though she summited more than 100 peaks in her lifetime. Instead, her philosophy was to respect whatever mountain she was on, humbly asking it to allow her to visit and come down safely.

“We’re not there to conquer you or do anything else,” her husband, Bryan Digel, said, offering Chen’s perspective. “We’re just here to respect and admire your beauty and wonder.”

She had long admired and respected Mount Rainier, the mountain she dreamed of climbing when she first spotted the snowcapped peak from the plane as she landed in Seattle 15 years ago. She ultimately summited the mountain five times.

Over the weekend, the Bellevue couple were back on Mount Rainier with Digel’s son, climbing on the Disappointment Cleaver route that’s known for being the mountain’s most popular but also for its avalanche and rockfall dangers. The three, along with another unguided party of three climbers ahead of them, were caught in a rockfall at 11,600 feet early Sunday morning.

Chen, 44, was hit by a car-sized boulder that knocked her unconscious, according to Digel, who, like his son, was uninjured. Other climbers helped Digel with medical aid and radioed for rescue crews as he attempted CPR, but one helper noted her pupils weren’t reacting to light.

She died on the mountain from blunt-force injuries, according to the Pierce County medical examiner’s office. One climber in the other party was seriously injured and flown from the mountain to a hospital, while two others had minor injuries, Mount Rainier National Park said.              

Chen had a “big orbit” of loved ones who are now mourning, Digel said Wednesday as he prepared to leave for China, where their 7-year-old daughter was spending the summer with Chen’s family. Chen had been a teacher in China and moved to the U.S. to pursue her doctorate in education from Seattle Pacific University. She worked in education, then transitioned to data science and was employed by Puget Sound Energy.

She and Digel met in 2014 while running on Queen Anne and married a year later.

On their first date, he asked her about her outdoors goals, since she had recently joined the Mountaineers. “She said, ‘Well, when I fly into Seattle, I see a giant snow mountain.’ I said, ‘Oh, Mount Rainier?’ She said, ‘Yeah, can we climb that one?’”

They did, along with dozens of other peaks in Washington, and mountains in myriad other countries. Their climbing slowed when they welcomed their daughter in 2019, but they continued climbs, including a recent one in remote mountains of western China near Tibet.

She was exceptionally experienced and focused on safety, Digel said. She and Digel researched the mountain conditions — low wind and cooler temperatures at night, though they knew a low snowpack carried risk of falls — and their group was spaced away from other climbers.

Around 2:30 a.m., they heard the party above them yell “ROCKS,” then heard what sounded like their reaction to getting hit. Digel, who was leading, stepped to the right and heard his son confirm he was OK as rocks fell. They then saw Chen had been hit.

Climbers watched the sunrise — at 11,600 feet, it was a stunning sight, Digel said — as they waited for rescue crews to arrive. Chen’s body was flown off the mountain, and the climbers were assisted down to Camp Muir.

Now a single dad of a 7-year-old, Digel isn’t sure if he’ll climb again. As he left that Sunday from the park, he glanced at Mount Rainier and wanted to feel angry.

“But I couldn’t. It’s just too beautiful,” he said. “And you know, she loved that mountain.”