A Vancouver man who suffered an emergency while hiking east of Mount St. Helens on Saturday was rescued by a Navy helicopter but later died in a hospital.
Thomas Duhigg, 56, of Vancouver went hiking with Peder Bisbjerg, 54, of Lake Oswego, Ore., on Saturday morning on the Craggy Peak Trail, which is between Mount St. Helens and Mt. Adams, Skamania County Chief Criminal Deputy Pat Bond said.
Bisbjerg was hiking a little ahead of Duhigg, but Bisbjerg turned around when he hadn’t seen Duhigg for a while, Volcano Rescue Team coordinator Tom McDowell said.
When Bisbjerg located Duhigg, he found that Duhigg was about 20 feet off the path down a 30-degree slope, McDowell said. Bisbjerg told a search and rescue crew that Duhigg likely fell off the trail, which was covered in about 4 feet of snow, and that he had complained of pain in his leg and hip area, McDowell said.
The pair used a personal locator beacon to alert authorities of the emergency at about 6:30 p.m. Saturday.
A duty officer with the Washington State Department of Emergency Management was notified of the beacon and called the Skamania County Sheriff’s Office to have them respond to the alert.
The beacon was pinging in several locations, but deputies eventually found the hikers’ vehicle, Bond said.
About 10 search and rescue volunteers with the Volcano Rescue Team were notified of the emergency at about 8 p.m., gathered, and began their search at 11:30 p.m.
The crew found the pair just before 5 a.m. Sunday, but Duhigg was unresponsive, McDowell said. Medical personnel in the crew performed CPR and called for air assistance. A Navy helicopter from the Naval Air Station Whidbey Island responded and transported Duhigg to PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center in Vancouver at about 8 a.m. He later died.
The Clark County Medical Examiner is investigating Duhigg’s cause of death, which was not available for release Wednesday.
