Mount Hood Rescue! Climber With Equipment Failure Led To Safety

GRESHAM, OR — There's a 27-year-old Oregonian who is back home and very lucky to be there. The man had equipment failure as he was getting ready to start his way down Mount Hood after having reached the summit.

He was climbing alone and, lucky for him, his radio was not the equipment that wasn't working.

Just before 10 on Saturday morning, the Hood River County Sheriff's Office, which helps coordinate safety on the 11,249-foot mountain, one of the world's most popular climbs, sent out the call for help.

The Crag Rats Mountain Team, which had a patrol on the mountain's South Climb, was activated.

Two of their climbers – Dr. Christopher Van Tilburg and Leif Bergstrom – were on the Hogsback snow ridge just below the summit when the call for help came. Along with two other climbers – from the Hood River Ski Mountaineers – that they were with, started the climb up to the summit.

"Fortuitously we were near the summit, and prepared for a rescue," Van Tilburg said

At the same time, two Ready Teams from Portland Mountain Rescue also moved toward the scene.

Van Tilburg and Bergstrom found the climber and lowered him down the high angle, slick slope known as the Old Chute.

By this time, all the rescue climbers worked together to get the man down the mountain.

By 3:30 in the afternoon, the climber and his rescuers were all at Timberline Lodge warming up.

No one was injured.

Bergstrom, who is also a trained guide, said that while the climber had the right equipment, the incident s a reminder of how dangerous the climb can be.

"It's important to have mountaineering boots, crampons and an ice axe and know how to use them," Bergstrom said.

He added that if you're not an experienced climber, go with a guide.

Both the Crag Rats and Portland Mountain Rescue are members of the Mountain Rescue Association, an international group of experienced climbers who work rescues in high mountain crecesses, cliffs, and after avalanches.