Oregon Army National Guard helicopter crew rescues 2 people stranded in snow, whiteout near Mount Jefferson

SALEM, Ore. (KTVZ) – An Oregon Army National Guard helicopter crew helped Marion County Sheriff’s Office searchers rescue a mountain biker and a hiker stranded Thursday in separate incidents after heavy snow and whiteout conditions hit the Jeff Park Wilderness area near Mount Jefferson, officials said.

The sheriff’s office had received word from the father of a missing Australian mountain biker, routed through the US consulate in Sydney, Australia, who said his son texted him from Oregon and was stranded without cold-weather gear, Oregon Military Department Director of Public Affairs Lt. Col. Stephen Bomar said.

The mountain biker was stuck in a four- to five-foot snowdrift along a hiking trail near Hawk Mountain but was able to shelter in place overnight inside an existing structure along the trail, Bomar said.

In a separate incident, a female hiker on the Pacific Crest Trail was caught in whiteout conditions for two days, Bomar said. She first activated her In-Reach GPS device on Tuesday, but ground crews were unable to reach her location due to the snowdrifts and fallen trees.

The state Search and Rescue unit and Oregon Army National Guard Aviation combined the two rescues and airlifted both individuals on the same mission, as the two locations were less than 12 miles apart in the wilderness area, Bomar said.

The UH-60 crew flew them to the Detroit Lake Ranger Station, where they received medical attention before being flown to Salem.

“The weather conditions delayed the operation because of the heavy snow and whiteout conditions,” said Scott Lucas, State SAR Coordinator, with the Oregon Department of Emergency Management. “Because the two locations were near each other, the helicopter was able to pick them both up on the same mission and take them to the ranger station together.”