Mount Hood Missing Snowboarder's Body Recovered By Search Teams

MOUNT HOOD, OR — Search teams working on Mount Hood Saturday recovered the body of snowboarder Ryan Mather of Aloha. He had been missing since Tuesday.

The Hood River County Sheriff's Office said that late Friday night search teams found evidence there was a body buried by in avalanche debris.

Because of the conditions, they delayed the recovery effort until Saturday, deputies said.

Late Saturday morning, teams recovered Mather's body and notified his family, according to the sheriff.

Officials said that Mather had gone to Mount Hood on Tuesday morning to go snowboarding. When he didn't return home that nigh, his girlfriend called the sheriff's office.

Mather's car was quickly found in the parking lot of Mt. Hood Meadows and rescuers determined that Mather had been by the Shooting Star Express chairlift.

For the next four days, efforts were centered on the area around the chairlift, focusing on the black diamond and double black diamond rated areas around Heather Canyon.

On Friday night, one of the rescue teams spotted what seemed to be a body in the debris in Clark Creek in that area, officials said.

"Our thoughts and prayers go out to Ryan’s family," Hood River County Sheriff Matt English said. "This has been an incredibly difficult and heart-wrenching five days for them.

"We are extremely thankful to all of the agencies and organizations that helped search for Ryan and ultimately recover him for his family."

Personnel from the Clackamas, Deschutes, Benton and Lane County Sheriffs' Offices, Hood River Crag Rats, Pacific Northwest Search and Rescue, Portland Mountain Rescue, Corvallis Mountain Rescue, Eugene Mountain Rescue, Mt. Hood Meadows Ski Patrol, Mt. Hood Meadows Public Safety, Oregon Army National Guard, and Oregon Emergency Management assisted in the search.