snowleopard_x Posted July 4, 2001 Share Posted July 4, 2001 On Sunday, a climber from the Midwest fell down the Chute, slid over 200', and into the bergschrund on Mt. Hood. PMR, Climbing Rangers and others there were able to excavate him, and a helicopter picked him up and took him to the hospital where he was treated for various injuries, but will apparently recover. I don't know more specifics, but apparently he underestimated the route and was ehausted coming down and fell in the soft, steep snow, which is very common. Mt. Hood is extremely dry and about done for the entire season, for those who wonder. I'd say the only routes left to climb are the South Side (if you go very early - on the summit at sunrise) and the Sunshine Route, if you descend the South Side. All other routes are very likely melted out rockfall bowling alleys, and as soon as the weather starts to cool, the ice climbing season will begin. Probably six weeks early this year due to the drought. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnWang Posted July 18, 2001 Share Posted July 18, 2001 I was actually on the summit taking photos for the climber who fell on July 1 before the accident. Based on my observations I would make some corrections to the above: (1) The climber fell into a fumarole/crevasse and NOT the bergscrund. Photo on www.SummitPost.com. (2) PMR, USFS Climbing Rangers, and AMR did NOT excavate the climber. A group of 15+ volunteers excavated the climber because it took the first climbing ranger 4.5 hours to arrive at the Hogsback. AMR and PMR followed within the next two hours. Among the volunteers were two off duty climbers from Western Montana Search and Rescue and an off duty airborne medic with the Army National Guard 1042nd (they do seaches in the 3 Sisters area). Volunteers also rigged a ski/rope litter to bring the climber to the Hogsback because no litter was available from PMR/AMR/USFS until later when the climber was transferred and then lowered down to 9100 ft. PMR/AMR were able to assist after the climber had already been excavated and brought to the Hogsback. (3) A helicopter did NOT lift the climber off the volcano but two news helicopters did spend hours taking video footage of the rescue. The USFS had clearance to send a helicopter but chose NOT to because the injuries were not life threatening. After the climber was lowered to 9100 ft. (7 hours after the fall), he was evacuated from the mountain via snowcat to the Timberline Lodge parking lot where he was transferred to an ambulance. (4) The climber was NOT from the Midwest, but from the East Coast - somewhat immaterial. It appeared that the most serious injury the climber suffered was a broken ankle. More information and photos of this accident/rescue are available on www.SummitPost.com. There is a sequence of 4 Mount Hood photos with captions that should give you a pretty good idea of what happened. [This message has been edited by JohnWang (edited 07-17-2001).] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philfort Posted July 18, 2001 Share Posted July 18, 2001 Wow, those are amazing rescue photos! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowleopard_x Posted July 21, 2001 Author Share Posted July 21, 2001 Thanks John, I picked up my info from what I could interpret from the local media. Appreciate your updated info, and the links. [This message has been edited by snowleopard (edited 07-21-2001).] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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