Injured climber rescued from Central Oregon mountain

DESCHUTES COUNTY, Ore. – A climber was rescued from the slopes of a Central Oregon mountain over the weekend.

The Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office said on the evening of June 18, a 23-year-old hiker from Ithaca, New York, called 9-1-1 to report he was injured after falling and triggering a small avalanche on South Sister.

Due to unfavorable weather conditions, a helicopter couldn’t be dispatched that evening, but the climber had access to a tent and sleeping bag until rescue crews could reach him.

At about 1:00 a.m. the next morning, a Deschutes County search and rescue team started ascending the mountain toward the climber, who was located nine miles away at an elevation of about 9,100 feet.

The team reached the hiker roughly nine hours later and prepared him to move down a glacier into an area where he could be hoisted up by a helicopter, which arrived at about 10:40 a.m.

By 11:33 a.m., the climber was in a Blackhawk helicopter headed to St. Charles Medical Center in Bend.

Rescuers said, “The Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue would like to thank Oregon Office of Emergency Management and the Oregon Army National Guard for their assistance in this rescue.”