UPDATE Lost Mt. Hood Climbers Found by Clackamas County Sheriff's Search and Rescue Unit

The most recent information provided by the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office, Search and Rescue coordinator on Mount Hood continues to be very encouraging.

Tower on Mt. Hood

(MT. HOOD, Ore.) - At 11:30pm, the 5 lost climbers were found and safely brought back to the Timberline Lodge. Efforts by Clackamas County Sheriff's Office Search and Rescue Unit and the Portland Mountain Rescue made for quick and safe rescue of the five men. All five hikers are reported to be in good condition with no injuries. There were no injuries to rescuers during the search efforts.

Through the use of GPS coordinates and a mountain locator unit search efforts were swift and resulted in the rescue of the hikers quicker than anticipated. A snow cat was used to safely retrieve and transport the hikers off the mountain.

The rescued climbing party were identified as:

• Brian Anderson—24 year old Portland resident;
• Ben Elkind—22 year old Portland resident;
• Bryce Benge—29 year old Lake Oswego resident;
• Jeremiah West—28 year old Portland resident; and
• Brian Weihs—39 year old Hillsboro resident.

A snow cat is being summoned to transport mountain rescue personnel from Timberline Lodge to the Palmer Glacier area, where rescue climbers will continue on by foot to aid the climbing party of 5 in need of assistance.

GPS coordinates provided will lead Search and Rescue personnel to an area identified as Illumination Saddle on Mount Hood. Rescue personnel, representing Portland Mountain Rescue, will be departing Timberline Lodge in the provided snow cat at approximately 10:40 PM.

Anticipating everything goes as planned – the party of 5 and rescue personnel should be arriving back at Timberline at approximately 3:00 AM, this Sunday morning.

The temperature at Timberline is 20 degrees; with wind gusts between 20 – 30 mph. The snow is falling lightly at this time.

It is the immediate intention of this mission to reach the party of 5 climbers, and return with this climbing group to Timberline Lodge later this evening.

Please note: This climbing party in need of assistance is in good physical condition, with no injuries reported, and they retain an optimal amount of communication capability.