The PMR team reaches 10,000 ft Date: 08/12/2008 The first PMR rescue team reaches the 10,000-foot mark and a Timberline snow groomer that had delivered some equipment to the scene. Several climbers watch as three of the five PMR rescuers continue past them and on to the accident scene - above 10,400 feet. Above, an Oregon National Guard 1042nd Air Ambulance Unit helicopter arrives to evacuate the first critically injured victim.

Photo © Portland Mountain Rescue
PMR rescuer treats an injured victim Date: 08/12/2008 PMR rescuer Tracie Rosenberry (in blue)
prepares an IV for a
critically injured climber.

The climber was one of
the nine who fell into the
crevasse in the original
accident, but did not
succumb to shock until
well after the event.

Dave Mull from American
Medical Response
(foreground) also works
on the patient.


Photo © Portland Mountain Rescue/GAMMA
Pave Hawk prior to crash Date: 08/12/2008 The ill-fated Air Force Reserve Pave Hawk helicopter hovers over the Bergschrund crevasse less than a minute before it crashes. The rescue litter is just being attached to the hoist cable at the time of this photo.

Photo © Portland Mountain Rescue
Pilots escape Date: 08/12/2008 Moments after the Pave Hawk helicopter came to rest, the pilot and co-pilot scramble out of the wreckage to safety. Dazed and in shock, the last crew member to be ejected from the aircraft sits quietly (top, right) in the snow.

Photo © Portland Mountain Rescue/GAMMA
Crew member signals a chopper Date: 08/12/2008 An Air Force Reserve crew member signals to another AFRC Pave Hawk chopper passing overhead, as PMR and AMR medics tend to the injured pararescue jumpers (PJ's). Mount Hood's sulfur spewing fumaroles and Crater Rock provide the backdrop.

Photo © Portland Mountain Rescue
A National Guard chopper arrives Date: 08/12/2008 After the Pave Hawk crash, a National Guard helicopter arrives to drop off a rescuer prior to evacuating a critically injured victim. PMR's Michael Leming (left), Tracie Rosenberry (bottom) and AMR's Dave Mull direct the chopper to the landing zone.

Photo © Portland Mountain Rescue
Coordinating the chopper evac Date: 08/12/2008 A 1402nd National Guard rescuer radios for a litter that will transport the critically injured patient off the mountain. Meanwhile, the activities at the Bergschrund crevasse can be seen in the upper right portion of the photo.

Photo © Portland Mountain Rescue/GAMMA
National Guard evacs a victim Date: 08/12/2008 A National Guard helicopter raises a critically injured victim off the mountain to safety. The chopper hovered about 30 feet above the landing zone and hoisted the rescue litter into the aircraft before heading off to a Portland area hospital.

Photo © Portland Mountain Rescue
PMR rescuers work at the crevasse Date: 08/12/2008 Portland Mountain Rescue and American Medical Response rescuers enter the Bergschrund crevasse to begin bringing the fatally injured climbers to the surface. The three victims were between 20 and 30 feet down the crevasse.

Photo © Portland Mountain Rescue
A fatally injured victim goes home Date: 08/12/2008 After all survivors had
been evacuated,
PMR rescuer Joe Owens
slowly lowers a deceased
victim's body down
the Hogsback ridge.

Massive Crater Rock
watches over the
operation, as well as
the wreckage of the
Pave Hawk helicopter.


Photo © Portland Mountain Rescue/GAMMA
Dealing with the Media Date: 08/12/2008 Almost 11 hours after receiving the mission call out, an exhausted Steve Rollins explains the day's amazing events to the gathered reporters. A veteran of many rescue operations, Steve served as the on scene Incident Commander during the mission. Due to his participation in more than 50 interviews, he did not return home until late the next afternoon.

Photo © Matthew Weaver (PMR)
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