Mountaineer's explorations documented

Brent McGregor has lived a life of extraordinary adventures, from climbing all three of the Three Sisters in 24 hours to plumbing the depths of Oregon's caves.

At age 60, McGregor hit the pinnacle of his adventures with a remarkable discovery: He and his caving partner Eddy Cartaya located and explored what has been determined to be the largest glacier cave system in the Lower 48, on Mt. Hood.

Brent and Eddy led an expedition to survey the caves, a trek that the now 60-year-old McGregor admits was physically taxing.

"My last trip out of the glacier I had a 100-pound pack," he said. "It was tough. You're digging deep because you want it so bad."

McGregor and Cartaya were the first to systematically explore the massive cave system in the mouth of the Sandy Glacier in 2011. Since then, they have spent more than 300 hours mapping more than a mile of caves and tunnels underneath the ice.

In addition to being a skilled mountaineer and caver, McGregor is an outstanding photographer, and his documentation of the massive cave system is stunning. The McGregor/Cartaya discovery will soon be the subject of a major OPB episode of the broadcaster's iconic show, "Oregon Field Guide."

On October 10, Oregon Field Guide will kick off its 25th season with what OPB calls "one of the biggest stories in program history." During a half-hour special, Field Guide will take viewers along an expedition to explore the caves discovered by McGregor and Cartaya.

Earlier this summer, the mountaineers invited OPB to join an expedition to film and photograph the glacier cave system located on the northwest face of Mt. Hood.

Oregon Field Guide set out to document McGregor and Cartaya's weeklong expedition in the caves. It was the largest and most complex shoot coordinated in program history. It involved a larger crew, several volunteers who needed to be highly skilled in mountaineering, hundreds of pounds of equipment and multiple cameras. The crew hiked nearly five miles and gained 3,200 feet in elevation before reaching camp at 6,400 feet.

The Oregon Field Guide season premiere episode "Glacier Caves: Mt. Hood's Secret World" airs Thursday, October 10 at 8:30 p.m. on OPB TV. Not only will viewers see the breathtaking beauty of the caves, they will see firsthand the threats of glacial retreat and loss in the Cascades as a result of climate change.

For more information about the glacier cave story, visit OPB's interactive website at http://www.opb.org/glaciercaves. Audiences can also tune in to Morning Edition on OPB Radio on October 7 and 8 to hear from the EarthFix team about the science behind the glacier caves. A multimedia feature story about the glacier caves will also run in the October issue of OPB's digital magazine for iPad. Additionally, on October 10, OPB's daily radio program "Think Out Loud" will discuss the glacier cave expedition during the noon hour.