Mt. Hood Rescue: One Climber Dies, Another Hospitalized

OREGON CITY, OR — One climber is dead and another critically injured after a 200-foot fall on Mt. Hood on Sunday. The Clackamas County Sheriff's Office says that the surviving climber was brought down to Timberline Lodge Monday night and then rushed to a hospital.

It was Sunday evening, just after 5 p.m., when two climbers fell from near the top of the Leuthold, an icy chute on Mt. Hood's west face that is visible from Portland.

Both climbers were seriously injured. One of them was able to call 911 as well as use an emergency device to notify an emergency contact.

A command center was set up at Timberline Lode on Sunday evening. The Clackamas County Sheriff Office's Search and Rescue Coordinators worked with volunteer teams including the Hood River Crag Rats, Mountain Wave Emergency Communication, and Portland Mountain Rescue to launch the rescue effort.

Winds gusting to 50 miles per hour knocked rescuers off their feet as they struggled to reach the two climbers. Every step they took, they would go thigh deep into the snow. The moonlight was dim, visibility limited, the terrain steep.

The sheriff's office says that the conditions "were extremely challenging" and "treacherous."

It was just after 11:30 p.m. when the first of the rescue teams – a combination of Crag Rats and volunteers from PMR – made it about 700 feet below the injured climbers. By that point, conditions had become so bad that they couldn't go any farther.

The state had wanted to deploy a helicopter from the Oregon Air National Guard but the conditions were too risky.

When the sun rose on Monday, conditions had settled down slightly and the first team was joined by additional personnel from the 304th Rescue Squadron, Corvallis Mountain Rescue, the sheriff's office, PMR, and the Oregon Army National Guard.

The sheriff's office also provided a plane and the National Guard brought in a military helicopter and crew.

Two rescue teams climbed into a snowcat and made their way up to Palmer Lift while a third team summited the mountain and started working their way down to where the injured climbers were.

By this point, the winds had picked back up, making conditions increasingly dangerous. There were two natural avalanches on Monday, illustrating how treacherous things were.

A fourth team was trying to carry rescue equipment to the scene but were forced to turn back and wait for the others on Reid Glacier farther below.

The rescuers finally made it to the climbers.

They couldn't detect any life signs and consulted with Dr. Christopher Van Tilburg the medical director for the sheriff office's search and rescue team and several other groups.

They concluded that the climber had died.

Conditions were quickly worsening and the decision was made to get the second climber to safety as quickly as possible.

She was in critical condition but was able to move.

Because of the conditions on the mountain and the decision to attempt saving the second climber, rescue workers made the difficult decision to leave the climber who had died on the mountain.

When conditions improve, they will launch a recovery mission.

The Army National Guard tried getting their helicopter to the rescuers but the wind was too strong to be able to lower a lift to bring them up.

Late Monday, rescuers carried the climber across Reid Glacier and then used ropes to lift her over Illumination Saddle and, over the Zig Zag Glacier, and to a snowcat waiting at Palmer lift.

In all, 32 rescue climbers were involved in the effort to bring the woman to safety.

The names of the climbers have not yet been released.