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Rescue climbers faced ice-covered Mt. Hood

Rollins said the ice was thick on the mountain, impossible for a climber to self-arrest or stop themselves when sliding down a steep slope.

Mt. Hood, Ore. -- From the Sky 8 helicopter Tuesday we saw some of the danger on Mt. Hood, lots of rocks falling down toward the injured climber.

Rescue volunteer Steve Rollins, with Portland Mountain Rescue, helped bring the other climbers down Tuesday evening. He watched the chopper video Wednesday morning.

“Amazing to look at the amount of rock fall and icefall coming down on these guys. You can see the dark snow there...that’s really the trash shoot of the mountain,” he said.

Rollins said the ice was thick on the mountain, impossible for a climber to self-arrest or stop themselves when sliding down a steep slope.

The ice proved hard for even the rescue team to get through.

“You can see how uneven the ice is. That was a real challenge for us for the rescue. That rock (ice) is just rock hard. It’s just like an ice cube out of your freezer but it’s probably the size of a duffel bag,” said Rollins.

A climber named Andrew Wagner shared video that he shot walking through windblown ice that formed on top of other ice. It sounded like he was walking on and kicking broken glass.

Erik Broms is another volunteer with Portland Mountain Rescue. He also climbed up to help those stranded.

“Don’t under estimate Mt. Hood. People do and bad things happen,” Broms said.

He added that it’s easier than you think to get in too deep--and urged climbers to turn back when conditions get bad.

“Before you know it you are in over your head or you are freaked out because conditions are not what you thought they'd be,” Broms said.

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