GOVERNMENT CAMP, OR (KPTV) -
A 52-year-old climber on Mount Hood lost his footing and slid out of control down the mountain, but luckily only suffered a few injuries Thursday morning.
The fall was reported just before 9:30 a.m. A Portland Mountain Rescue member happened to be on the mountain at the time and helped stabilize the climber, who was identified as Gary Morgan.
Sheriff's deputies said Morgan fell near the Hogsback Ridge area of the mountain. That's the same location where 56-year-old Mark Cartier fell to his death a week ago.
Morgan, like Cartier, was on a solo climb at the time. He suffered a serious injury to his hip or leg, deputies said, as well as secondary injuries to other parts of his body.
Mike Claypool and other climbers in his party saw the whole thing. They were 400 feet from the summit when the snow became soft and slippery, so they decided to turn back. That's when Morgan fell.
"We get down to the Hogsback and next thing we know, we hear, 'Falling!' And this guy was falling from the summit, about 500 feet and we saw him go right into this crevasse," Claypool said.
Several climbers, including the Portland Mountain Rescue team member, came to Morgan's aid and covered him with coats and blankets.
Search and rescue teams from the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office, Portland Mountain Rescue and the AMR RAT team assembled at Timberline Lodge shortly after 9:30 a.m. and began heading up the mountain.
Those rescue teams carried him to a snow cat used to move Morgan the rest of the way down the mountain.
Morgan arrived at Timberline Lodge seven hours after his terrifying fall.
For a better idea of where Hogsback is located on Mount Hood, take a look at this map.
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