A search helicotper flies between Yokum Ridge and the Sandy Glacier Headwall, near where climber Kinley Adams' body was recovered.
Amelia Templeton
An experienced climber who died on Mt. Hood was found far from the route he intended to take to the summit. Portland Mountain Rescue says Kinley Adams ended up on the dangerous western face of the mountain. The medical examiner’s office in Clackamas County confirmed today that Adams suffered multiple injuries from a fall.
When Adams signed the climbing register, he said he was climbing the Leuthold Couloir, a route the 59 year old climber and dentist had attempted before, but had not completed. Mark Morford, with Portland Mountain Rescue, says Adam's body was found just below the upper bergschrund, a crevasse, on the Sandy glacier.
Morford believes Adams crossed Yokum Ridge, a craggy mass of rock and ice, and ended up in the cliffs above a face called the Sandy Headwall.
“He certainly had gotten off route. I doubt he was in an area he intended to be in. And either fell, or rock fall took him down.“
Morford says it's impossible to know for sure what happened, or whether bad weather contributed to the accident.
"You would not normally climb in that part of the mountain this time of the year, and it's not an area where people climb that often anyway. It's a very dangerous part of the mountain."
A PMR team working in the early hours Sunday morning recovered Adams' body from an area Morford describes as a dangerous funnel for rockfall.
PMR says the tragedy serves as reminder for climbers to respect Mt. Hood, prepare carefully, watch the weather, and know the route.