1986 Mount Hood disaster

Mountaineering disaster February 2025 File:Timberline Lodge to Palmer ski tour (8 May 2025) (11190).jpg Mount Hood viewed from the climber's trail just above Timberline Lodge in May 12–13 May 1986 Mount Hood (Oregon) Oregon Episcopal School 9 In May 1986, seven students and two members of staff from Oregon Episcopal School died during an excursion on Mount Hood. The students were participating in an adventure program required by the school for sophomores. The disaster is the second deadliest alpine accident in North American history, behind an avalanche in 1981 on Mount Rainier which claimed eleven lives.Toutonghi Pauls Mount Hood's Deadliest Disaster 2 November 2018 https://www.outsideonline.com/2357451/mount-hood-disaster-1986 Outside Magazine 5 November 2018 Expedition The students were participating in Basecamp, a program run by the school following the principles of Outward Bound, and required for all tenth graders. Led by Thomas Goman, the school's chaplain, the expedition set off from Timberline Lodge, just west of the route up Mount Hood, on Monday May 12, 1986, at 2:30 a.m. The forecast predicted a multi-day storm, but Goman believed that the climb would be complete before the worst of the weather hit. The party consisted of 20 people: 15 students, a student's mother, Goman, Dean of Students Marion Horwell, and two guides, Dee Zduniak from Outward Bound and Ralph Summers. Student Hilary Spray and her mother Sharon turned back early in the climb because Hilary was suffering from a stomach ache. Four more students named Lorca Smetana, Courtney Boatsman, John Whitson, and Michael Garrett,https://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/exploration-survival/mount-hood-disaster-1986/ The Storm. The Mountain. Every Parent's Worst Nightmare 2 November 2018 http://www.traditionalmountaineering.org/Report_Hood_EpiscopalSchool.htm Mt. Hood - Episcopal School tragedy along with Zduniak turned around shortly after. According to a statement written by Summers after their rescue, bad weather suddenly arrived in the two-hour period after Zduniak turned back. Summers was eventually able to convince Goman to turn back, but by then the storm arrived and conditions were deteriorating rapidly.AAC Publications - Improper Decision — Failure to Turn Back, Fatigue, Exposure, Hypothermia, Inadequate Equipment, Weather, Failure to Follow Route, Oregon, Mount Hood http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/13198706500/Improper-Decision-Failure-to-Turn-Back-Fatigue-Exposure-Hypothermia-Inadequate-Equipment-Weather-Failure-to-Follow-Route-Oregon-Mount-Hood 2023-07-16 publications.americanalpineclub.org Because of poor visibility and disorienting conditions, the group descended off course, moving nearly sideways across the mountain. With evening approaching, Summers constructed a snow cave. The cave was not large enough to hold everyone, and the accumulating snowfall built up over the entrance, obstructing the air flow and restricting access. Summers and a student, Molly Schula, set off for help after first light on Tuesday morning, arriving at Mount Hood Meadows, two miles east of Timberline Lodge, a few hours later. The rest of the group waited at the snow cave, with three students possibly attempting to descend on their own.Phillips Don 16 May 1986 8 Mt. Hood Climbers Found The Washington Post https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1986/05/16/8-mt-hood-climbers-found/7ab6e6c9-f3b5-401a-8489-460a7ea269a9/ Rescue thumb|Looking south from near where the snow cave was discovered, May 2025 The Portland Mountain Rescue arrived at the Timberline Lodge shortly after 5 a.m. on Tuesday, May 13, alerted to potential trouble on Mount Hood involving student climbers who had not arrived back as expected. The rescuers faced difficult weather conditions, with strong winds overturning a Sno-Cat. On Wednesday morning, a team of rescuers found the bodies of the three students who were outside the snow cave. The team searched nearby for other survivors, using avalanche probes to locate a snow cave. The team was pulled from this location, and redirected after Summers went up in a helicopter to offer guidance on where he thought the survivors were located. Later on Wednesday, Richard Harder, a master sergeant with the Air Force Reserve's 304th Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadron, a unit of Air Force pararescuers, determined that the search teams were looking in the wrong area, marked a probable search field with a flare from a helicopter, and set up a line of rescuers to use avalanche poles to search for survivors. The snow cave was located on Wednesday evening. Helicopters rushed the victims to area hospitals, where doctors and medical staff attempted treatment. There were two survivors from the cave, Brinton Clark and Giles Thompson; Thompson had to have both legs amputated. https://www.nytimes.com/1986/05/19/us/around-the-nation-doctors-remove-legs-of-mt-hood-climber.html?n=Top%2FReference%2FTimes+Topi+cs%2FSubjects%2FM%2FMountain+Climbing Doctors Remove Legs of Mount Hood Climber May 19, 1986 NY Times 2018-11-05 Fatalities Tasha Amy (15) Thomas Goman (42) Richard Haeder Jr. (16) Marion Horwell (40) Alison Litzenberger (15) Susan McClave (17) Patrick McGinness (15) Erin O'Leary (16) Erik Sandvik (15) Aftermath The school commissioned an official inquest, which assigned blame primarily to Goman for failing to turn back in the face of bad weather.AAC Publications - Improper Decision — Failure to Turn Back, Fatigue, Exposure, Hypothermia, Inadequate Equipment, Weather, Failure to Follow Route, Oregon, Mount Hood https://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/13198706500/Improper-Decision-Failure-to-Turn-Back-Fatigue-Exposure-Hypothermia-Inadequate-Equipment-Weather-Failure-to-Follow-Route-Oregon-Mount-Hood publications.americanalpineclub.org 9 May 2025 Settlements were offered to the families of seven students who died, and one family filed a wrongful death lawsuit in September 1986. The school commemorates the event annually in May of each year. See also Mount Hood climbing accidents List of mountaineering disasters in North America by death toll References Further reading Conrad Ric Conrad Sheri Code 1244: The 1986 Mount Hood Tragedy 2019 Kahuna Books 978-0988733954 Category:Mountaineering disasters Category:Mountain rescue Category:Mount Hood National Forest Category:1986 in Oregon Mount Hood disaster Category:May 1986 in the United States Category:Deaths on Mount Hood