A lethal day in the mountains

Associated Press

TIMBERLINE LODGE, Ore. — An Air Force Reserve helicopter crashed and tumbled down a snowy slope of Mount Hood on Thursday while on a mission to rescue nine climbers who had fallen into a crevasse. Three of the climbers died in the fall.

One crew member in the helicopter was critically injured. He was later listed in serious condition. Two others suffered lesser injuries and were taken to a hospital in Portland, about 50 miles away.

By early evening, all the injured reservists and climbers had been taken off the mountain, and rescuers were working to recover the bodies of the three climbers, said Angela Blanchard, spokeswoman for the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Department.

Meanwhile, on Mount Rainier, park rangers in an Army Chinook helicopter recovered the bodies of a German man and woman Thursday who died on Wednesday, Mount Rainier National Park spokeswoman Maria Gillett said.

The body of a third climber, Keeta Owens, 21, of Lebanon, Ore., was brought down late Wednesday before swirling snow and 60 mph winds drove rescuers off the 14,411-foot peak.

The Pave Hawk helicopter that crashed on Mount Hood was attempting to bring up a climber on a gurney attached to a cable when it started to lose altitude. A crew member released the cable just before the pilot pulled away from the ridge.

Its refueling probe jutted into the snow, and the helicopter careened sideways down the mountain. Its rotor blades sheared off, and it rolled about 1,000 feet before coming to a rest at the base of Crater Rock.

Three separate groups of climbers were ascending 11,240-foot Mount Hood and were about 800 feet from the summit when the accident occurred about 9 a.m. A climber who was beneath the crevasse used his cell phone to call for help.

The chain reaction began when two climbers at the front of the pack slipped, falling into climbers behind them. They all crashed into the next group of climbers, and everyone tumbled into the crevasse, said Cleve Joiner, who called for help.

"The only thing I can compare it to is hockey players who throw themselves on the ice to block a shot," Joiner said. "Everybody was sliding on the ice, and then they disappeared."

The helicopter went down nearly five hours after the climbers fell. Rescue teams who were already on their way up to the crevasse on foot and in snow vehicles made their way to the crash site.

The weather was sunny and winds were calm, easing the task of helicopter crews, but officials said any high-altitude operation is risky.

The Pave Hawk helicopter, a modified version of the Army’s Black Hawk helicopter, can operate at altitudes up to 14,200 feet. The helicopter was assigned to the Air Force Reserve’s 304th Rescue Squadron based at Portland International Airport, the Pentagon said.

Some 40,000 people fill out permits to climb Mount Hood every year, and the route taken by the climbers Thursday was particularly well-traveled. The accident took place in the middle of prime climbing season, which runs through July.

"There is still fairly good climbing, and it’s fairly safe," said Keith Mischke, executive director of the Mazamas, a Portland climbing group. "This happened in the morning, so the snow should have been pretty solid."

The crevasse is about 25 to 30 feet deep, Mischke said. Climbers normally go around it or cross one of the snow bridges across the gap.

"They go across the bridges one at a time usually — a snow bridge can be 2 feet or 15 feet wide," he said. But he added: "If somebody falls they could pull the others in."

Mount Hood is the site of one of the worst climbing disasters in the United States. In May 1986, nine teen-agers and two teachers from the Oregon Episcopal School in Portland froze to death while retreating from a storm during an annual climb by students and staff. In the past 100 years, experts say there have been 130 deaths on Mount Hood.

The three climbers who died on Mount Rainier were all students at Oregon State University at Corvallis. Owens, the German woman who died, had been visiting there, Rainier National Park spokeswoman Lee Taylor said. The group of four had been climbing the difficult Liberty Ridge route when they were caught by bad weather and were forced to make an emergency camp near the 14,411-foot summit.

The fourth member of the group, its 29-year-old leader, fell at the emergency camp and damaged one of his climbing boots so he could not get back to the others. He headed down the mountain and summoned help at midday Wednesday when he ran into other climbers with a cell phone at St. Elmo’s Pass, at the 7,800-foot level.

He and his three friends — with no experience on Rainier but considerable ice- and rock-climbing experience — set out on the mountain Saturday, the park spokesman said. The first couple of days went as planned, but then deep snow began to put them behind schedule. They had planned to summit Monday, but instead camped about 1,000 feet below the peak.

"I think the weather was deteriorating as they headed up" the Liberty Ridge route, Taylor said. It’s a difficult route and there comes a point at which it is harder to go back down than to continue on, she said.

When the storm hit, with 50 to 60 mph winds and blowing ice and snow, the party tried to hunker down in their tents just below the summit.

"The tents were destroyed by the wind," which snapped the poles, Taylor said.

"So they decided to try to dig in and wait out the storm," she said, splitting into two pairs for the work.

One couple finished their snow cave and were huddled inside when the woman from the other couple stumbled over to tell them that her male partner had slipped and fallen. It’s not clear whether she witnessed the fall or suddenly realized he was gone, Taylor said.

Making her way toward the other couple’s shelter, she apparently fell into it and the shelter collapsed.

"So things are going from bad to worse," Taylor said. "They dig their way out. The gear is buried."

Unable to rebuild the snow cave, the group leader "tried to create a makeshift shelter for the two women," and then headed down to see to their fallen friend. But he fell himself and lost the hard shell of his plastic climbing boot. Unable to return to the women, he headed down the mountain.

The survivor told rangers both women were still alive at the collapsed snow caves when he left at about 4 a.m. to seek help, but sometime after that it appears both women fell as well.

Owens landed near the male victim, where her body was found Wednesday. The other woman landed in a crevasse. Rangers were able to retrieve her body with ropes on Thursday, Taylor said.

Names of the two German climbers who died were not expected to be released until today.

Thirteen climbers have died on Liberty Cap and Liberty Ridge since 1968, including three men who died while climbing together on May 13, 1988. Eleven people died on Mount Rainier in 1981 when they were caught in a massive icefall.