Pair survive Mount Hood fall

PORTLAND – Two climbers were rescued Saturday by a National Guard helicopter crew after they were injured in a 500-foot fall near the top of Mount Hood.

Aaron Dunlop, 31, of Newberg, and Jeremy Hawkins, 32, of Tigard, were in fair condition at Oregon Health & Science University Hospital in Portland, officials said.

A third climber in the party, Brad Wood, of Tigard, walked off the 11,240-foot mountain, the highest peak in Oregon and a popular destination for Pacific Northwest climbers.

Erik Broms of Portland Mountain Rescue was the leader of a three-man “ready team” at a staging area called the Hogsback, preparing to climb the final leg to the summit when he saw the trio fall and slide down the ice.

“As soon as we saw them sliding my partner and I started running down to where they were,” Broms said.

Both Hawkins and Dunlop suffered multiple bruises and abrasions and possibly broken bones, Broms said, and were drifting in and out of consciousness as rescuers arrived. But both appeared to be alert as they awaited the helicopter, he said.

It was the first sunny day in Oregon after a long stretch of cloudy and rainy June weather, and ice coated the snow, Broms said.

It was too icy for the trio to brake or halt their slide with their climbing equipment, Broms said.

The injured climbers were among three parties headed for the summit Saturday morning. The lead party fell backward, hitting a second party, and the mass of climbers then fell into a third party, according to Detective Jim Strovink, spokesman for the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office, the lead agency in Mount Hood rescues.

Portland Mountain Rescue sends up “ready teams” every weekend during peak climbing season, and Broms said he happened to be a short distance from where the fall ended on Saturday. He estimated it at about 500 feet from the summit.

There were about 40 people on the mountain at the time, Broms said, a smaller number than usual for the time of year. Nearby climbers included a U.S. Forest Service wilderness ranger.

A UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter from the Oregon Army National Guard’s 1042nd Medical Company with a crew of five, including a medic, handled the rescue on Saturday, said Kay Fristad, National Guard spokeswoman.

She said the Guard rescue team has been busy as the summer climbing season arrives.

“We’re on the mountain more than off,” Fristad said. “This is the time when the mountain is changing. The snow is softening, and crevasses are forming. It’s not a good time for climbers.”