Climber buried in Mount Hood avalanche

PORTLAND — A snowboarder traveling through an ice tunnel with six other people was buried when the tunnel collapsed and an avalanche struck while they traversed a glacier on Mount Hood on Saturday afternoon. The six other members of his party escaped without injury. The man has not yet been identified. Hood River Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Pete Hughes says the other climbers called in the incident at about 4 p.m. A fixed-wing aircraft was dispatched to survey the area, along with crews from local sheriff’s offices. Hughes says it will “take some doing” to reach the area where the climber was buried on the White River Glacier, which begins about 6,000 feet up the south side of the mountain. Hughes says it’s unclear at what elevation the avalanche buried the climber.