For search engine purposes...
An early season climbing accident took the life of one mountaineer and seriously injured another during a climb of the Sandy Headwall on Mount Hood's northwest face.
It is not yet known exactly how the accident occurred, but the two men fell 300 to 500 feet from the Sandy Headwall route and slid at high speed into a 40-foot deep crevasse on the Sandy Glacier, near 8,500 feet in elevation.
The least injured climber was able to place a cell phone call to 9-1-1 around 11:30 AM. Subsequently, the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office launched a rescue mission and summoned Portland Mountain Rescue and American Medical Response (AMR) shortly after noon. Click for larger view
Mission Reference Map
West Face of Mount Hood
Initially, little was known about the climbers' location, but Steve Rollins, a PMR rescue leader, was able to make direct phone contact with the climbers and learned that they were near the Sandy Headwall - a very remote area of Mount Hood (see map above). Rollins quickly passed this information to the Sheriff's Office and advised the mobilization of air support to reach the victims in the fastest possible time.
The first rescuers to reach the mountain were a PMR volunteer and professionals from the AMR Reach and Treat (RAT) Team. RAT Team paramedic Dave Mull and PMR rescuer Matt Cline received a sno-cat ride to Illumination Saddle and proceeded to cross the Reid Glacier and Yocum Ridge on foot in order to reach the scene. This process took nearly five hours.
http://www.pmru.org/pressroom/headlines/sandyglacier110404.html
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