Climbing Accidents - Mt. Hood & Rainier

[Keith_Hixson]

As a former Mt. Climber and working Mt. Rescue it always bothers me when I hear of climbers getting killed while climbing. It seems like it was climbing error. Which is the cause of most accidents in climbing. The Northwest's High Peaks are no place to be unless you know what you are doing.
Mt. Rainier at 14,401 ft. is the second highest peak in the lower 48. It for many years held the world record for the most snow in a winter season.
The high peaks in the Cascades have enormous glaciers. They have hidden snow bridges, hard ice on the glaciers, and very steep slopes. From what I have seen and read (3 killed on Mt. Hood) its seems the climbers were going up a very steep slope and not using belaying techniques. But sometimes Mother Nature just surprises everyone by a surprise avalanche of ice or snow or severe weather conditions that come up without warning. Climbing those high peaks can be very dangerous even going up the safe routes to the top.

A military rescue helicopter also crashed trying to rescue the climbers. Fortunately the crash didn't kill anyone. One crewman is in critical condition.

In the last couple of days we've had 3 killed on Mt. Rainier and 3 on Mt Hood in Oregon.

Keith