On Sunday, March 6, Pradnya Mohite (34) was attempting to summit Mt. Hood with climbing partner Lei Wang (50). Both climbers fell around 200 feet near the top of the Leuthold Couloir. Ms. Wang sustained critical injuries, and Ms. Mohite was declared deceased at the location of the fall. Rescuers evacuated Wang to an area hospital, but conditions were too dangerous to recover Mohite until August 6.

ANALYSIS

It is not clear what caused the fall, but both Mohit, a Small Instruction Group leader for The Mountaineers and Wang, the first Asian woman to climb the Seven Summits, were very experienced. The Leuthold Couloir is a long, steep avalanche chute. A series of late-season storms brought a tremendous amount of snow in March and April, resulting in extreme avalanche risk and challenging climbing conditions that prevented the recovery of Mohite. (Source: Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office.)