Mount Hood climbing fall: Teen plunges 500 feet – and survives
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A 16-year-old climber has survived with only a leg injury after falling more than 500 feet on Oregon’s Mount Hood.
The teen was climbing with a group Monday morning when he plunged into an area of the mountain called Devil’s Kitchen, which is about 10,500 feet up and near the peak’s summit, police say.
"This is a mountain, it's a technical mountain, this isn't a Sunday stroll," Lt. Brian Jensen of the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office told Q13 Fox. "It's inherently dangerous and you know, going up there, you need to have the proper skill set and the proper equipment to do so safely. Doing so with anything less than that can, it can be dangerous."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Rescue crews took four hours to get to the location where the teen fell, then "began rendering care immediately, splinting the climber’s leg," the sheriff's office said in a tweet. The temperatures on the mountain during that time were in the mid-30s.
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The rescuers later were seen skiing down the mountain with the climber in tow. He suffered a leg injury.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Mount Hood is 11,239-feet tall and is the highest mountain in Oregon. According to the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office, more than 10,000 people attempt to summit the peak each year.