On Saturday, a climber fell not far from Mount Hood’s peak. A spectacular rescue of the climber was captured by the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office.
A Blackhawk helicopter from the Oregon Army National Guard appeared to balance itself on a little ridge of snow, with its front landing gear partly buried. Two doctors jumped out as its door slid open.
One would only anticipate seeing a helicopter like this in a Hollywood film, hovering on a thin sheet of snow, with steam rising from the neighboring Hot Rocks fumarole near the top of an 11,249-foot peak. But this was true, and Chief Warrant Officer 3 Michael Newgard and his team pulled it off.
News Release: Injured Climber Airlifted by Oregon Army National Guard Helicopter
More information: https://t.co/35w8H79R5V pic.twitter.com/MAiHj1nbwP
— Clackamas Sheriff (@ClackCoSheriff) July 3, 2022
“Helicopters really aren’t supposed to hover at around 10,000, 11,000 feet,” Chief Warrant Officer 3 Michael Newgard said during an interview Monday.
Other rescue helicopters in the region lack the power to fly at Mount Hood’s altitude, so the helicopter crew was called in to airlift a seriously injured 43-year-old Happy Valley man to the hospital.
Around 6:30 in the morning, the climber had misplaced his ice ax and had plunged at least 600 feet from the summit ledge to the rocks above the fumarole.
At Timberline Lodge, the sheriff’s office established a command center after deploying to Mount Hood. The Hood River Crag Rats and Portland Mountain Rescue volunteers also contributed to the rescue effort.
“So there’s a lot of math involved and you kind of have to poke around and see when you fly close to the mountain and you start slowing down, that’s when the engines really have to start to work and you just have to look at all your instruments,” Newgard said.
Crews arrived at the injured climber just before 10:30 a.m. It didn’t happen until the afternoon. When Salem-based Newgard and his Blackhawk arrived. The climber was put into a basket by the crew’s medics and lifted into the helicopter.
“We train to do it all the time. I mean, I don’t want to act like it was not difficult, but we do train for this stuff, and the unit down there in Salem is incredible. The training we get from the Army, so it prepared us well for it,” Newgard added.
He also said that he and his crew couldn’t have done it without the medics on site.
Watch it here: Youtube/KOIN 6
Sources: Dailywire, Ussanews, Mckenzieriverreflectionsnewspaper