Fallen Mount Jefferson climber’s body recovered in challenging team effort
MADRAS, Ore. (KTVZ) – Nearly a week after an experienced climber fell hundreds of feet and died while traversing a glacier high on the jagged slopes of Mount Jefferson, a challenging, multi-county effort recovered his body Saturday, Jefferson County Sheriff Jim Adkins said.
David Freepons, 65, of Kennewick, Wash., was among a small group of similarly experienced climbers who had hiked in from the west side of the 10,495-foot mountain, Oregon's second-highest peak.
The fall occurred on Saturday, July 25 at about 9,500 feet in elevation on the east side of the mountain, in an area that’s part of the Warm Springs Indian Reservation.
Sarah McCalmant, one of the other four climbers on the peak that day, later told NewsChannel 21 a few days later that Freepons was her mentor and a leader in the climbing community, and had been unable to stop himself from falling.
"He's been climbing for decades," she said. "We had all the appropriate gear. We were all wearing helmets, we all had our ice sacks, we all had our crampons -- we didn't miss any safety precautions, necessarily. This was purely a tragic accident that I think could have happened to anyone. And it's unfortunate that it happened to Dave."
The sheriff said the recovery team began hiking into the wilderness location Friday afternoon, traveling about 15 miles and climbing the mountain until about 10 p.m., when they stopped to rest.
Around 3 a.m., they began preparing for the arrival of a helicopter from Bend’s Leading Edge Aviation, which flew Freepons’ body to Metolius Meadows in Camp Sherman, where family and friends were waiting.
“As you can see, this operation was a logistical challenge,” Adkins said, expressing concern about the heat, wind and rocky terrain.
"But God kept them safe," he said.
“My heart aches for David Freepons’ family and friends during this most difficult time," Adkins wrote in a Facebook posting. "I can’t imagine the pain of losing a friend in such a manner and being helpless to help or recover David from such a remote and precarious location, and having to wait so long to get him off the mountain.”
Adkins thanked numerous participants in the recovery effort, including the mountain rescue teams from the Benton, Lane and Deschutes county search and rescue units, Lane County amateur radio operators, Linn County Posse members who shuttled gear for teams and Jefferson County SAR members who offered support and command.
Adkins also thanked Jefferson County sheriff’s Sgt. David Pond “for his caring and tireless pursuit to gather so many experts from other counties to get the job done.”
And the sheriff thanked Warm Springs Police Chief William Elliot and his department, who he said don’t have a mountain rescue crew but assisted the operation financially.
