Missing hiker on the Timberline Trail

Use this forum to post links to news stories from other websites - ones that other hikers might find interesting. This is not intended for original material or anecdotal information. You can reply to any news stories posted, but do not start a new thread without a link to a specific news story.
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Bosterson
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Re: Missing hiker on the Timberline Trail

Post by Bosterson » October 11th, 2018, 7:39 am

squidvicious wrote:
October 11th, 2018, 7:25 am
Bear in mind that when the news reports on stuff like this they tend to use the nearest landmark they think people may have heard of, which sometimes you're lucky if it's in the same state.
:lol:

This is very true. News coverage of hiking/climbing is generally atrocious with respect to what the person was actually doing (eg, "hiking to the summit of Mt. Hood") or describing locations in a way that makes geographic sense. The details of a news story about a missing hiker are almost always meaningless, because either the full information hasn't been released, the journalist included a random lead being investigated, or they simply don't understand the activity or place they're writing about.

For instance, Laurence Gonzales's book Deep Survival, which otherwise is interesting and has a lot of good stories and information, describes the infamous 2002 Mt. Hood Blackhawk rescue disaster in ways that make absolutely no sense - like talking about climbers on the Hogsback being somehow adjacent to the Elliot Glacier on the opposite side of the mountain...
#pnw #bestlife #bitingflies #favoriteyellowcap #neverdispleased

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retired jerry
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Re: Missing hiker on the Timberline Trail

Post by retired jerry » October 11th, 2018, 9:19 am

at least they're both glaciers on the same mountain :)

maybe the hiker had an incident with a mountain lion?

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X-ZZ4
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Re: Missing hiker on the Timberline Trail

Post by X-ZZ4 » October 11th, 2018, 12:17 pm

Came here looking for an update, didn't see anything recent so just checked a news site also. Bad news. :oops:

https://katu.com/news/local/climber-dis ... sing-hiker
GOVERNMENT CAMP, Ore. – The Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office says a climber discovered the body of a deceased man on Mount Hood Thursday morning. Crews have been searching the area for a hiker who was last seen about a mile from Timberline Lodge Monday.

A Clackamas County deputy says it was a private climber, not a member of a search team, who found the body around 8:40 a.m. The body was located near the 8,300-foot level of the mountain, about a half-mile east of Silcox Hut.

At this time, the sheriff’s office cannot confirm if the body is missing 30-year-old David Yaghmourian.

Yaghmourian was last seen Monday when a hiking partner said he stopped to rest at the eastern junction of the Timberline Trail and Pacific Crest Trail. The friend said he continued on to Timberline Lodge, but Yaghmourian never caught up with him.

The Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office said crews searched up to the 5,800-foot level of the mountain, but did not continue to higher elevations because they didn’t see any signs that Yaghmourian had continued climbing.

The body was found outside the search area.

The climber who discovered the body said it was not easy to see until he was close to it.

The sheriff’s office says it appears the man died from hypothermia, but may have also fallen 30 feet. They say the man had been trying to set up a tent before he died.

If the deceased man is Yaghmourian, deputies say it appears he made a wrong turn and began gaining elevation. His friend told investigators that Yaghmourian had a knee injury and it was easier for him to hike uphill rather than downhill.

The Clackamas County Medical Examiner will identify the body.

The sheriff’s office says they’ve notified Yaghmourian’s family that the body may be his.

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X-ZZ4
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Re: Missing hiker on the Timberline Trail

Post by X-ZZ4 » October 11th, 2018, 12:26 pm

So...how does he get from 1 mile from Timberline to the 8300' level? Wouldn't it be incredibly obvious he is gaining altitude instead of losing altitude? I guess if he's running on empty he could become that confused....but then again that would be an incredible amount of energy to burn to gain that altitude with an injury and already being very tired.

None of this makes much sense to me.

Edit - it says he was 1/2 mile from Silcox Hut. Maybe he was trying to get there? Just trying to make sense of something that doesn't make sense.....
Last edited by X-ZZ4 on October 11th, 2018, 12:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Waffle Stomper
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Re: Missing hiker on the Timberline Trail

Post by Waffle Stomper » October 11th, 2018, 12:27 pm

A very sad end. It doesn't quite make sense to me either, but perhaps he was hypothermic or dehydrated. If his friend had no water, perhaps he didn't either.
"When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe." - John Muir

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adamschneider
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Re: Missing hiker on the Timberline Trail

Post by adamschneider » October 11th, 2018, 12:30 pm

8300'?! That's not a half-mile east of Silcox, that's almost the top of Palmer Snowfield.

From what the SAR guy said, it sounds like he might have gone up one of the ridges below White River Glacier. Silcox Hut doesn't really come into the picture over there.

squidvicious
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Re: Missing hiker on the Timberline Trail

Post by squidvicious » October 11th, 2018, 12:48 pm

I came in in the middle of that press conference. I got that Yaghmourian had apparently turned onto a wrong trail, and that it was a trail that people had gotten confused on before and that they'd searched, but only to a much lower altitude. But I didn't catch exactly where he was talking about?

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aiwetir
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Re: Missing hiker on the Timberline Trail

Post by aiwetir » October 11th, 2018, 1:09 pm

Hypothermia can cause all kinds of erratic behavior. I would guess it's not unusual to find someone who died of hypothermia in a completely illogical place.
- Michael

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retired jerry
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Re: Missing hiker on the Timberline Trail

Post by retired jerry » October 11th, 2018, 2:20 pm

His desired route was to follow the ridge up to Timberline Lodge

Maybe he just followed a different ridge that went more straight up the mountain

Maybe there's some other structure at the top of the ski lift that he confused with Timberline Lodge

I wonder what the cause of death was. It wasn't real cold or anything.

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Bosterson
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Re: Missing hiker on the Timberline Trail

Post by Bosterson » October 11th, 2018, 5:21 pm

#pnw #bestlife #bitingflies #favoriteyellowcap #neverdispleased

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