Hiker rescued from South Sister

A lost hiker near the summit of South Sister was found by Deschutes County Sheriff's Office Search and Rescue on Sunday, September 15.

The Deschutes County Sheriff's Office Search and Rescue (SAR) was notified of a lost hiker near the summit of South Sister at 4 p.m., Saturday, September 14. Though the hiker was thought to be in Lane County, Deschutes SAR was requested to respond and activated the rescue mission at 4:15 p.m.

Photo provided

Deschutes County Search and Rescue aided a lost hiker last week.

Lane County Sheriff's Office SAR requested an Oregon Army National Guard helicopter, but, due to the time of day and weather, the NG advised they would be unable to launch until the morning of September 15.

Initially Deschutes SAR did not have an exact location for the hiker and cell phone pings were unreliable. Assistance was requested asking Airlink to fly two SAR members towards the summit of South Sister, but the Airlink team was unable to locate the hiker due to fog on the summit.

A nine-member Deschutes SAR team began climbing South Sister and climbed throughout the night. At approximately 6:00 a.m. Sunday, September 15, the hiker was found off the west side of the South Sister summit and was immediately provided warmth and food.

The Deschutes SAR team and the hiker returned to the South Sister summit and were awaiting the NG helicopter by 10:30 a.m. With sleet falling and worsening weather conditions, the decision was made for another group of SAR volunteers to respond to the summit to help the original team, who had been on the mountain almost 24 hours. Two teams, eight Deschutes County SAR members and five Lane County SAR members, responded and began climbing South Sister to assist.

By 3 p.m. the National Guard helicopter had made several attempts to reach the summit but was unable to reach the teams, as the weather continued to get worse, with constant snow. The decision was made for the SAR team members to hike off the mountain with the hiker.

All SAR teams and the hiker returned safely to the Devil's Lake Trailhead. The hiker was very grateful.

A total of 27 Deschutes SAR team members and nine Lane County SAR team members, along with the National Guard and Airlink, assisted to get the hiker off the mountain.