kahn
Well-Known Member
- Region
- USA
- City
- northWET washington
They may have been rescued. Wiki reports for 1997
Mount Hood climbing accidents - Wikipedia
"On May 19, 1997, Carlos Loria, a solo climber summited successfully with his dog, Buckwheat. While descending the Coe Glacier he slipped and fell 700 feet (210 m), fracturing his neck. After being reported overdue by family, he was found by rescuers with facial lacerations, slight hypothermia, and cervical trauma. He was treated and helicoptered to Portland, but Buckwheat was not at the scene. A month later, the dog appeared at Cooper Spur Inn, some 9.4 kilometres (5.8 mi) ENE across the rugged Mount Hood Wilderness, evidently having survived on snow melt and berries.[26]
On September 6, 1997, an experienced telemark skier, Mark Fraas of Hood River, ascended wearing crampons and carrying skis to the 10,000-foot (3,000 m) level of Cooper Spur, not intending to summit. He slipped and fell more than 1,500 feet (460 m) down the Chisholm Trail and Eliot Glacier. Twenty-five rescuers responded to his partner's cell phone call and found him dead. Retrieval required technical mountaineering skills and equipment. Fraas was not known to have any climbing experience. This was at least the 13th fatality from Cooper Spur. All involve loss of footing, inability to self-arrest, and a long fall over rock cliffs above the Eliot Glacier.[27]"
I recall a group, maybe Texas, that did not do well. There is both altitude sickness and the steep ice/snow can crevasses that leading to accidents.
I have not climbed Hood but have climbed and skied our five volcanoes. St Helens before and skied after eruption. Mt Adams once each way. Mt Baker climbed and partially skied. Rainier climbed. Glacier Peak the most remote and less known climbed. They all can be fun and tedious. One very slow step at a time staring into the white snow! With the occasional OH, CRAP as a foot finds a crevasse or you have to leap one in a single bound!
