The body of an experienced mountaineer who has climbed Mount St Helens nearly 30 times has been found inside the volcano after apparently dying in the fall.
Roscoe “Rocky” Shorey, 42, was found 1,200 feet below the summit of Mt. Washington around 7 a.m. Saturday as a climbing group was exploring the area, Skamania County said. The sheriff’s office announced. statement Monday.
The discovery was made after the group arrived at the summit of Mount St. Helens, near the Monitor Ridge climbing route, and discovered Shorey’s belongings near the rim of the crater.
Members of the group then spotted a “motionless person inside the volcano’s crater” and immediately contacted authorities.
Police said Shorey’s belongings were found near a broken snow cornice, and Shorey fell into the volcano while a climber was standing on it. It is said that it seems like something.
Rescue workers from the Skamania County Sheriff’s Office and a rescue team from Yacolt, Wash., were airlifted to the volcano and then descended on foot to retrieve Shorey’s body.
Shorey’s body was taken to the command center at Marble Mountain Snow Park, about eight miles away, where authorities were able to identify him as an avid climber.
The Hawaii native had climbed Mount St. Helens 28 times before his tragic accident and was described as an “experienced mountaineer.”
Brett Burnham, a longtime friend of Mr Shorey, said: K.G.W. Monday when we received the news of his death.
“It’s a very difficult time. Rocky was more of a brother than a friend,” a friend of more than 20 years told the publication.
“In 42 years, that man easily lived a hundred years of life…I was lucky enough to jump in the car and ride with him. Every time I was able to go out, it was an adventure.”
“The proof of his life is that he just lived. He lived as himself. He didn’t live dangerously. He lived with anticipation, with passion, with purpose. Burnham said Shorey was more like a “little brother” than a friend.
Before his death, Shorey was living in Washougal, Washington, about 32 miles from Portland, Oregon, and working as a brand ambassador for Mountain House.
In a statement, the company, which sells meals for survivalists and explorers, called him “a fearless adventurer with an appetite for the outdoors as much as a fun spirit.”
“We will never forget his boundless energy, optimistic attitude and true aloha spirit…He was a true friend and will be missed by all.”
The volcano, which last erupted on May 18, 1980, is a hotspot for both novice and experienced climbers. US Forest Service.
The crater rim is 8,365 feet above sea level and typically takes the average climber 7 to 12 hours to make the round trip.
Climbers are allowed to enter the crater’s rim, but “crater entry is strictly prohibited,” the U.S. Forest Service said.
In 2010, a mountaineer from Kelso, Washington died after the cornice collapsed beneath him While on the rim of Mount St. Helens.
