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An adult male climber is expected to recover after being trapped beneath a massive boulder near Silcox Hut on Mount Hood. According to an official update from Clackamas Fire, the incident occurred on Sunday morning, May 24, 2026, when a minor rockslide released a boulder estimated to weigh 16,000 pounds directly onto the descending climber.
Bystanders immediately rushed to the victim’s aid but were unable to move the immense weight. First responders from Hoodland Fire and the Clackamas Fire Technical Rescue Team arrived on foot and via snowcat around 10:20 a.m. to find the climber pinned in steep alpine terrain. While the patient remained conscious and communicative, the extreme nature of the entrapment prompted emergency leaders to establish a unified command and initiate a sophisticated, multi-agency rescue plan.
The rescue required a dual-track response. While a heavily equipped heavy rescue team hiked to the climber’s location to construct a mechanical lifting system, emergency coordinators contacted Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) and Life Flight Network to dispatch a specialized field surgical team to the mountain. As surgeons rushed to assemble medical equipment in a secondary helicopter, rescuers on the slope managed to safely lift the boulder and extricate the climber at approximately 12:30 p.m.
Reports from confirmed that the patient was transported to an awaiting Life Flight helicopter a nd flown to a regional trauma center in critical condition. Clackamas Fire directly credited the success of the high-consequence mission to the seamless collaboration between local fire departments, the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office, Timberline Lodge staff, Mt. Hood Ski Patrol, and regional search and rescue groups including Portland Mountain Rescue and the Hood River Crag Rats.
