16-Year-Old Climber Survives 500 Feet Fall During Mountaineering Expedition
A teen climber from Vancouver, Canada, has survived a potentially fatal 500 feet fall from a mountain Monday and just had a broken leg. He is now recovering.
Gurbaz Singh, 16, was visiting Oregon with his friends to climb its highest peak Mount Hood (11,250 feet). It would mark his 90th mountain climb, Rishamdeep Singh, his father, told KATU.
He arrived in Oregon on Sunday and the trek began early Monday morning.
While scaling the Pearly Gates section of the mountain, Singh accidentally slipped and fell 500 feet into the Devil's Kitchen area below. His father said he tried to clinch himself onto the mountain with the help of his ax but “it just didn't happen because he was rolling so fast that he couldn't do it."
Rescue officials from Clackamas County Sheriff's Office located Singh. He sustained a broken leg from the fall. They stabilized his leg while bringing him down, CNN reported. It took four hours altogether for the rescue team to bring him back to a safe zone.
Singh underwent a surgery at Legacy Emanuel Medical Center in Portland on Tuesday.
His friends said Singh fearlessly led the charge of their mountaineering expedition. However, the frozen weather conditions led to his fall. His father started from Canada immediately after hearing the news of his fall and reached Portland on Monday night.
Singh’s father said he won’t inhibit Singh’s passion for mountaineering in future notwithstanding the incident. In fact, the father-son duo is planning to go back to Mount Hood and conquer it as soon as Singh recovers.