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After 3 years, crews recover body of Mt. Jefferson hiker

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The body of a Portland college student who disappeared on a hike in the Mount Jefferson Wilderness Area more than three years ago was recovered Tuesday from a steep glacial area on the slopes of the 10,495-foot peak, Marion County authorities said.

Riley Zickel , 21, a Lewis and Clark college student from Sebastopol , California, was reported missing on July 30, 2016 after not returning from what was intended to be an overnight hike, prompting an extensive search effort.

SAR teams and several other agencies spent a week searching for Zickel until their efforts were suspended on August 6, 2016. Over that week, more than 340 people covered over 350 square miles in the Willamette National Forest around Mount Jefferson. In total, about 5,000 hours were dedicated to search efforts to locate Zickel , deputies said.

The Marion County Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue unit coordinated Tuesday’s recovery

About three weeks ago, the sheriff’s office was contacted by climbers who believed they had found Zickel’s body in a glacial area above Jefferson Park on Mount Jefferson.

The area where he was located is extremely steep, with loose rocks and rock avalanches, making it an extremely challenging recovery effort. SAR partnered with Corvallis Mountain Rescue, the Civil Air Patrol and the U.S. Forest Service to plan Tuesday’s recovery mission.

The missing hiker’s father, Robin Zickel , traveled to Oregon from California to be present for the recovery mission. He was at the trailhead when searchers brought his son out of the wilderness area, deputies said.

“We are grateful to the many organizations that helped make today’s recovery of Mr. Zickel possible, ” Marion County Sheriff Joe Kast said. ” Without their contributions, we would not have been able to bring closure to the Zickel family after these three long years.”

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