Sisters, Ore. – KTVZ is reporting that searchers found the body of a 39-year-old Bend man late Sunday morning on the Middle Sister. Authorities say he was an experienced climber and apparently fell 800-900 feet near the summit of the 10,047-foot peak. The fall was during a nighttime descent ahead of an advancing storm that stymied initial search efforts.
Sunday’s search included 15 volunteers from Eugene and Corvallis mountain rescue units, two incident command staff in Bend assisting with communications, and more command staff managing the mission from Eugene.
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KBNW story from yesterday morning…..
Search Has Resumed For Stranded Bend Climber
Updated at 10:50a – Lori Raab, KBNW News
Bend, Ore. – The weather has finally started clearing and if it holds Search and Rescue leaders in Eugene say they may use an Oregon National Guard helicopter will take to the air to search for a Bend man missing on Middle Sister. Local rescuers already started searching this morning.
39 year old Benjamin Newkirk of Bend has been missing since Wednesday night when he fell at 10 p.m. at around the 9,500 foot level of the mountain. According to the Lane County Sheriff’s Office. Wintry weather, including high winds, freezing rain and snow, put the ground search on hold at 2 p.m. Thursday and all day Friday.
A manager at Zydeco Kitchen & Cocktails in Bend confirmed Newkirk is employed at the popular downtown eatery, but declined to comment on him out of respect for his friends and family.
Today John Miller, Head of Lane County Search and Rescue, tells KBNW news that conditions are good and rescuers from Deschutes County Search and Rescue resumed the search this morning at 5:00a. He is concerned that friends and family of Newkirk may try to go up to the mountain themselves and hamper the search efforts. He explains that they are using special equipment to look for signs of life in that area and don’t want other people contaminating their search. Miller also stresses that avalanche danger is high in the area after the recent snowstorm dumped a lot of fresh snow across the region. He adds that untrained searchers could be putting themselves in danger.
Newkirk was descending the peak with a climbing partner when he fell at about 9,500 feet and disappeared from his climbing partner’s sight, said Sheriff’s Sgt. Carrie Carver. The pair had a base camp at Camp Lake between South and Middle Sister at nearly 7,000 feet and were climbing along the southeast ridge of Middle Sister.
Carver said she didn’t know Newkirk’s level of climbing experience.
“I do know that he had some equipment with him that more experienced hikers would carry with them,” she said.
Newkirk’s partner climbed down to Camp Lake and was helped out of the backcountry by a Deschutes County Search and Rescue team. He has been helping searchers by providing information.
Lane County Search and Rescue is leading the search because Newkirk fell on the west side of the mountain, in Lane County.
An eight-person team from Eugene Mountain Rescue hiked 7 miles Thursday from the Obsidian trailhead, climbing to 6,200 feet, before high winds and whiteout conditions turned the rescuers back. Climbers who know the area describe it as rugged with some dangerous steep drop off areas. The terrain of the southeast ridge route goes from a broad face down low to a narrow ridge near the top.
Deschutes County’s Search and Rescue Team has been assisting in the Rescue.
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