PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — A team of 25 mountaineers with highly specialized skills worked for 13 hours to recovery the body of a 27-year-old climber who fell to his death while on a solo climb.
The body of Austin Mishler was found October 29 in a crevasse at about 9400 feet in elevation on Mt. Hood’s north side. The Bend resident camped in the area of Eliot Glacier and apparently fell while climbing in very technical terrain, officials with Hood River Crag Rats and Portland Mountain Rescue said.
Mishler was an experienced climber and wildneress guide. He ended up on a serac in the icefall, officials said.
On November 1, a total of 40 volunteers worked on this mission. The 25 rescuers worked in 2 units, each climbing to the 9500-foot elevation.
“This is a no-fall zone. So we had to build anchors several hundred feet above the ice fall,” Christopher Van Tilburg of the Hood River Crag Rats said in a statement. Rescuers used ropes to go down into the icefall and then used a rope system to raise his body to the upper part of the Snow Dome.
“It was highly technical, but that’s what we do,” Van Tilburg said.
Ben Swerdlow of Portland Mountain Rescue helped engineer the haul systems and safety systems.
“We lugged 8 ropes and at least a dozen pulleys up the mountain,” Swerdlow said. “That will give you an idea of the technical complexity.”
Once the mountaineers had Mishler’s body, they worked to bring him down to the Timberline Trail.
The Hood River Sheriff’s Office led the mission that also included the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office and Mountain Wave Search and Rescue.
