Florida pararescueman teams up with Portland PJs, rescuers to recover Mount Hood's missing climbers

  • Published
  • By Capt. Cathleen Snow
  • 920th Resue Wing
PATRICK AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. --  Satellite Beach native Staff Sgt. Patrick Dunne, a pararescueman (PJ) from the 920th Rescue Wing joins PJs from the wing's geographically separated unit in Portland, Ore., the 304th Rescue Squadron, to team up with multiple Oregon state and volunteer rescuers, and a U.S. Army unit on Mount Hood, Ore. Sept. 6-9 at the Cloud Cap Inn, Mount Hood, Ore. to participate in an Oregon State search and rescue training exercise.

Instead of a "mock SAR" training exercise, the Oregon SAR council has decided to attempt to find the two missing climbers still lost from the Dec. 2006 Mount Hood rescue mission. This objective will add a unique realism to the training mission.

Previously, the PJs participated in a non-technical search below 6400 foot elevation July 21, 2007. During this mission volunteers found the climbers gear believed to have been stashed prior to their trek to the summit.

The missing men are believed to be above the 6400 foot elevation. During this search technical climbing techniques will be used to traverse the glaciers of Mount Hood in hopes of recovering these men to bring them home to their families.