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1 dead on Mount Hood

One climber fell to his death and several others had to be rescued after conditions turned treacherous on Oregon's tallest peak.

More than a half-dozen people had been climbing near Mount Hood's peak when a climber fell about 1,000 feet, said Sgt. Brian Jensen, a Clackamas County sheriff's office spokesman.

"One of the guys slipped," said climber Quinn Talley of Welches, Oregon, who had been descending after summiting Tuesday morning. "At first he was just sliding and right before he disappeared, he started cartwheeling."

Talley, who said he's climbed the mountain about 20 times and has never seen worse conditions, said he tried to reach the man, but the ice was too dangerous.

"Normally, you like a frozen crust on snow so your crampons don't ball up with snow, but this is different," Talley said. "With the rain and freeze cycles, there's something called rime ice ... and it's really loose and normally it's just fluffy. But these were like dinner plates, hard ice dinner plates."

KOIN-TV reported that video taken from a helicopter showed other climbers performing CPR on the man before he was airlifted by an Oregon Army National Guard helicopter to a hospital. He was later declared dead. Authorities have not released his identity.

Climbers used their cellphones to report that conditions were hazardous and described the falling rocks and ice "like a bowling alley," said Air Force Maj. Chris Bernard of the 304th Rescue Squadron.

The stuck climbers were on or near the Hogsback area near the summit of the 11,240-foot mountain.

Rescuers made it up to the other climbers Tuesday afternoon at 10,500-foot elevation and assessed them before starting down the mountain.

Two climbers who were in the same party as the man who fell were guided down the mountain to a snow tractor, which took them to Timberline Lodge at 6,000 feet. Rescuers used a sled and a rope system to bring down a woman in the party who said she was unable to move.



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