The body of 25-year old mount hood snowboarder Collin Backwoski was found buried under 8 to 10 feet of snow after an ice tunnel collapsed last Saturday.
A search team of 7 rescuers and 5 members of volunteer group CragRats came with chainsaws and other tools to retrieve the body of the snowboarder. An airplane was also dispatched to survey the area. After hours of digging through ice likened to concrete, the team had to call off the search at 11 PM due to an avalanche threat and resumed Sunday morning.
Backowski, along with 5 other snowboarders, were exploring the Oregon glacier when the mount hood snowboarder went ahead to explore the ice tunnel that starts 6,000 feet up the south of the mountain. His companions tried to dig him out but to no avail. Hood River Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Lt. Tiffany Peterson shares that "All the mountain was pretty dangerous."
Peterson relates that after much effort and digging through a debris of ice by hand, they found the body of the Colorado-based snowboarder. The ice tomb was described to be the size of a school bus. She goes on to state that none of Buckowski's friends were injured.
Collin's companions took photos of the area just before the ice tunnel collapsed, which helped the rescue team locate the snowboarder's body.
The White River Glacier found in Mount Hood is a popular spot for snowboarding. Known as an avid surfer and snowboarder, Collin Backowski also worked at a snowboarding camp in Portland and in a yoga & pilates studio in Colorado.
"He chose to live out there on the edge with the snowboarding and I obviously wanted more from him," the snowboarder's dad John Backowski shares. "I would never try to take it away from him. He loved it."
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