Man Rescued After Falling Into Devil’s Kitchen Fumarole

A 28-year-old Idaho man was rescued on Mt. Hood after falling from the Hogsback snow ridge in the Mt. Hood Crater, sliding into the Devil’s Kitchen fumarole, and landing on rocks deep in the cavity and sustaining serious injuries.  According to the Hood River County Sheriff’s Office, George Stevens and two friends started for the summit late in the day on Wednesday, and when they reached the steep Hogsback snow ridge on their descent, the surface was slick with frozen ice.  The climber attempted to snowboard down from this ridge, but lost his edge and slid out of control into the open fumarole a few hundred feet below.  The Hood River County Sheriff’s office led the rescue response and deployed more than 20 volunteer rescuers from the Hood River Crag Rats and Portland Mountain Rescue.  Two teams of rescuers were sent high on the mountain to extract and lower the injured climber to safety, with a rescuer wearing a respirator and using gas monitors lowered to Stevens around midnight.  The team stabilized Stevens and hoisted him to the surface where he was loaded in a litter.  Using ropes, the rescuers then lowered him down steep ice slopes to the top of the Palmer ski lift, where he was transferred to a snow cat that transported him to Timberline Lodge parking lot and a waiting ambulance.  This was the third rescue on Mt. Hood in only five days.

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