Climber loses grip on ice ax then plunges 600 feet from mountain, Oregon sheriff says
A climber lost a hold on his ice ax before he fell 600 feet from an Oregon mountain, a sheriff’s office said.
The man tumbled down the side of Mt. Hood around 8:30 a.m. May 24, the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office said in a Facebook post.
He was descending from the summit on the Pearly Gates and Hogsback area when he had an issue with his boot, the sheriff’s office said.
He lost his grip of the ice ax as he tried to fix his boot before cascading down the side of the snowy mountain, deputies said.
The climber stopped in a snowfield in Devil’s Kitchen, deputies said, at an elevation of about 9,400 feet.
Witnesses saw the man fall and were able to help him before rescuers arrived, the sheriff’s department said.
Rescuers reached the man around 1 p.m. and took him to a hospital around 4 p.m., where he was treated for minor injuries.
