A 16-year-old mountain climber of Indian-origin survived a 500-feet fall from the top of Mount Hood in the US state of Oregon. The 11,240 feet Mount Hood holds the highest summit in the coastal US State. The teenager from Surrey, British Columbia, was attempting his 98th summit when he fell.
The incident took place when Singh was climbing the peak with his friends and he lost his footing on ice falling. He fell from an elevation of 3,200 metres from a section known as 'The Pearly Gates', which leads to the summit.
"It happened pretty quick, so it was kind of unexpected," the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reported on Wednesday, January 2 citing Singh as saying in a brief interview from his hospital bed in Portland where he underwent surgery.
Recused for over 4 hours
It took rescuers over four hours to reach him and bring him down the mountain. "The Pearly Gates is a narrow chute - almost like climbing up a chimney," said Sgt. Marcus Mendoza, a PRO with the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office. The ice gave way because it's still early in the climbing season and it wasn't strong enough at this point."
Mendoza said Singh narrowly missed hitting a woman who was climbing behind him. Gurbaz's father Rishamdeep Singh told the media that his son was expected to make a full recovery and would return to back climbing when his leg has healed.
'I looked at my helmet, it was destroyed. I'm so lucky'
The teen who underwent surgery in a hospital in Portland credits his training and wearing a helmet as the reasons why his injuries weren't more severe. We looked at my helmet afterward and it was just destroyed I'm so lucky, he told CTV News.
(With inputs from wires)
