Milwaukie man survives 500-foot fall on Mount Hood

The 54-year-old man is recovering with face, arm and leg injuries

The Clackamas Review, May 17, 2009, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (1 Reader comment)

Clackamas County Sheriff's Office / SUBMITTED PHOTO

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A Milwaukie man fell 500 feet on Mount Hood Sunday morning and survived.

John Robert Creager, 54, was recovering at Oregon Health and Science University Hospital on Monday after suffering face, arm and leg injuries from the fall near the Hog’s Back area beneath the summit, near 10,600 feet.

Clackamas County sheriff’s deputies said there were about 40 people climbing the mountain Sunday when Creager fell shortly after 6 a.m. He was with a group of five mountaineers.

Rescue teams reached the climber on foot around 10:30 a.m. Sunday. The sheriff’s office initially considered airlifting Creager from the Hell’s Kitchen area, but decided conditions were too risky to bring in the helicopter at that elevation.

“The rescue personnel were concerned about even bringing a helicopter up there because they were concerned the vibrations of the rotors … might send down some debris on that delicate surface,” said sheriff’s office spokesperson Det. Jim Strovink. “The pilots up there, the army guard, felt that at 10,000 feet, with the weather and the payload, they might have some weight issues.”

In May 2002, a military helicopter crashed about 1,000 feet below the summit while trying to rescue injured climbers who had fallen into a crevasse. The chopper’s rotor blades broke apart and it tumbled over several times, rolling over one crew member. None of the crew members died in that crash, though four of the hikers involved in the fall before the chopper crash died.

On Sunday, the rescue crew instead took Creager down to the Timberline Lodge area, where he was airlifted by the Oregon Air National Guard to Oregon Health and Sciences University. Strovink said Creager was in surprisingly good spirits after the fall.

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