The Nugget Newspaper - News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon

A 21-year-old man fell while hiking and skiing on North Sister on Monday, June 10, and required air rescue.

Deschutes County Sheriff’s office reported that a call came in at about 10:21 a.m. to 9-1-1 dispatch from Robert Kalmbach of Eugene, who reported he had injured himself while hiking/skiing North Sister and needed assistance.

Kalmbach and his friend, Michael Martin, also 21, had set out earlier in the morning from the Pole Creek Trailhead with a plan to summit North Sister and then ski back to the trailhead. Kalmbach reported he and Martin made it to within 200 feet of the North Sister summit which reaches 10,085 feet, when he fell and slid partway down the mountain’s east slope.

Kalmbach injured himself during the fall and was unable to continue on his own.

9-1-1 Dispatch was able to provide Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office Deputies with accurate coordinates of Kalmbach and Martin’s location through the 9-1-1 call, placing them approximately 5.5 miles from the Pole Creek Trailhead.

AirLink assisted by flying Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue Volunteers to a point approximately 800 feet below Kalmbach and Martin. Five additional DCSO SAR volunteers responded to the Pole Creek Trailhead. While the first two DCSO SAR volunteers made their way up the slope to Kalmbach, AirLink responded to the Pole Creek Trailhead and picked up two additional SAR volunteers to fly in.

The four DCSO SAR Volunteers, consisting of Mountain Rescue and Medical Team members, arrived at Kalmbach’s location at approximately 1:46 p.m.

Kalmbach was stabilized as much as possible, packaged into a rescue sled made for snow travel and lowered down to the awaiting AirLink helicopter. AirLink then transported Kalmbach to St. Charles Hospital in Bend with non-life threatening injuries. DCSO SAR Volunteers then assisted Martin back to the Pole Creek Trailhead.