South Sister climbers call in help for family

Some citizens worried about a family with three young children who climbed South Sister Sunday afternoon contacted authorities, saying they didn’t appear prepared for the suddenly stormy conditions.

That prompted officials to conduct an hours-long search effort and contact the family as they made their way down after dark.

The Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office got a call shortly before 7 p.m. from concerned citizens advising of the family seen at the summit of South Sister around 3 p.m., said a news release from Deputy Jim Whitcomb, assistant Search and Rescue coordinator, and Sgt. Ronny Dozier, SAR operations manager.

The family later was identified as David and Carrie Bradley of Milwaukie, Ore., with three young children ages 5, 3 and 9 months, they said.

It was the citizens’ impression that the family was not prepared for the conditions, based on their clothing and gear. They noted it was raining heavily at the trailhead at the time of the call, with lightning activity on the mountain. But the citizens had no names or phone numbers for the family to help in contacting them.

A Forest Service law enforcement officer responded to the Devil’s Lake Trailhead to interview hikers as they came down the 10,358-foot mountain, a very popular climbing area.

More concerned citizens were contacted by the officer, who said they had seen the family still at the summit around 5:30 p.m. The weather was still poor at the trailhead at that time, deputies said.

As a result, five Sheriff’s Search and Rescue teams totaling 21 members responded to begin searching for the family, in case they needed assistance, Whitcomb and Dozier wrote.

Around 11:21 p.m., the first SAR team located the family about halfway up the climber’s trail, about three-quarters of a mile from the trailhead, as they were making their way down the trail, deputies said. They were in good condition, with dry clothing, and the family was escorted back to the trailhead without incident.

Deputies learned that the family had left the trailhead shortly after 4 a.m. Sunday and reached the summit around 2 p.m., spending about three hours on the summit resting before their descent.

The family’s original goal was to be down and off the mountain by about 10 p.m. – but they said they did not encounter any of the poor weather on their descent that had been reported earlier at the trailhead, deputies said.

The sheriff’s office reminded the public who heads into the high country “to always try to be prepared by taking with them the 10 essentials: A source of navigation, sun protection, insulation, illumination, first-aid supplies, a fire-starting source, a repair kit/tools, nutrition, hydration and an emergency shelter.”