Search ends in tragedy: Bend climber’s body found in crevasse on Mount Hood
(Update: Adding video, comment by mother, others, background)
Austin Mishler was experienced climber, wilderness guide
GOVERNMENT CAMP, Ore. (KTVZ) – An air and ground search of Mount Hood for a missing, experienced climber and wilderness guide from Bend ended tragically Thursday when Austin Mishler’s body was found in a crevasse high on the slopes of Oregon’s tallest peak.
Hood River County sheriff’s deputies said the body of Austin Mishler, 27, was discovered in a crevasse at about the 9,400-foot elevation on the north side of the 11,250-foot peak.
Mishler's grieving mother, Kim Mishler, told NewsChannel 21 her son was "an experienced climber and a talented wilderness guide."
Mishler's social media pages said he became a wilderness field instructor at New Vision Wilderness in April, after about a year with Entre Prises Climbing Walls in Bend, and studied outdoor recreation management at Northern Michigan University.
In fact, his Facebook page is full of climbing photos, as well as a Sept. 5 video he took of summiting five mountains in just two weeks.
Andrew Scott, the executive director of New Vision Wilderness, said Mishler was "really committed to serving others and a real great guy."
The sheriff's office said in its announcement, “Our thoughts and prayers are with his family at this time.” It added that plans were underway to retrieve Mishler’s body on Friday.
The agency said it received a report about 5 p.m. Tuesday that Mishler was missing.
Mishler was reported to be camping on the mountain Monday night and planned to climb in the Eliot Glacier area on Tuesday. He was due to return home Tuesday night, but deputies said he had not been heard from since Monday evening.
On Wednesday evening, the Hood River County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue aircraft spotted a tent believed to be Mishler’s at about the 8,700-foot level, also on the north side of the mountain.
Search teams, including members of the Hood River Crag Rats and Portland Mountain Rescue, reached the tent Thursday morning and found no one there, deputies said.
Weather conditions were good for the search, coordinated by the Hood River County Sheriff’s Office, with assistance from their Clackamas County counterparts. Mountain Wave Search and Rescue provided communications assistance.
The Oregon Air National Guard’s 125th Special Tactics Squadron and the Air Force’s 304th Rescue Squadron also joined in the search efforts. A search base was established at Cloud Cap, on the north side of the peak.
