Injured Colorado climber rescued after small Mount Hood avalanche
Second rescue in a day, after Sunriver man became lost in whiteout
TIMBERLINE LODGE, Ore. (KTVZ) -- A Colorado woman climbing Mount Hood was struck by a small avalanche and injured Saturday, prompting the second rescue operation on Oregon's tallest peak in less than a day, authorities said.
Clackamas County Sheriff's Office Search and Rescue were notified of the climber in distress around 12:30 p.m. Saturday,.
The call came in as climbers were finishing up the overnight rescue of a lost, hypothermic climber from Sunriver, deputies said.
The new 911 call was from a climbing partner of Dani Rudinsky, 23, of Colorado, who said she had injured her ankle when she was caught in a small avalanche as they climbed the west side of Mount Hood, near Yocum Ridge and below the Reid Headwall.
"There is a high avalanche danger on Mt. Hood right now, due to a recent accumulation of 10 inches of snow along with warming temperatures," a sheriff's office news release said. "Officials estimate there were over 200 climbers on Mt. Hood Saturday."
Fortunately, deputies said, Rudinsky, reportedly an experienced climber, was prepared for such an emergency with an inReach satellite communication device.
She was able to send a distress call with the inReach device and communicated with rescuers. SAR coordinators use the information to better determine someone's location and what will be needed for a rescue operation.
SAR coordinators requested help from Portland Mountain Rescue, the Hood River Crag Rats, Mountain WAVE, American Medical Response's "Reach and Treat" Team and Hood River County Sheriff's Office SAR coordinators.
Deputies said 26 rescuers were involved in the mission, and "considerable manpower was required to reach the climber at this location," on the heels of the earlier rescue.
The teams worked in two groups, with one making sure Rudinsky was stable and packing her into a Sked litter. The other group set up a rope line to pull her up to the south side of Illumination Saddle, at 9,200 feet elevation.
From there, teams skied down, with Rudinsky in the litter, to Timberline Lodge. Deputies said she will seek her own medical attention, if needed.
Rescue crews reached Timberline Lodge at 9:30 p.m. Between the two operations, search teams had been working missions for nearly 23 hours straight, deputies said.
