PORTLAND, Oregon — 42-year-old Roscoe "Rocky" Shorey from Washougal was found dead at the bottom of Mount St. Helens crater last Saturday. It was assumed that Shorey had not survived the 1,200-foot fall, but rescuers trying to piece together what happened say otherwise.
The men who recovered his body found evidence that Shorey had survived the initial fall and tried repeatedly to climb back — nearly reaching the crater's rim — before falling a final time.
The news of Shorey's death shocked the mountaineering community. He was an experienced mountain climber and had successfully summitted Mount St. Helens 28 times prior to his death.
"It's an extremely difficult time," said Bret Barnum, Shorey's friend of two decades. "Rocky was more my little brother than my friend," he said, "In 42 years, that guy lived a hundred years of life easily...I was fortunate enough to be able to hop in the car and take a ride with him. Every time we could go out, it was an adventure."
The Skamania County Sheriff's Office reported Shorey's death on Monday with a warning for people to stay away from the edge of the Mount St. Helens crater because cornices, overhanging snow edges, can suddenly breakaway, especially during unseasonably warm weather. It's suspected that Shorey fell into the volcano after a snow cornice fractured near the rim and carried him into the crater of the mountain.
His body was discovered around 7 a.m. on Saturday after a climbing group reached the summit of Mount St. Helens near the Monitor Ridge Climbing Route. There they found some of Shorey's belongings, including a backpack and digital recording devices, near the rim of the crater. The group then reported observing a motionless person within the crater of the volcano and a rescue team was called.
When rescuers found Shorey's body, he was wearing nothing but snowboard boots and pants and a thin shirt, reported the Oregonian, who first reported Shorey's second fall.
Members of the rescue team were airlifted by helicopter to the crater of the volcano where they ascended on foot to recover his body.
Barnum said Shorey was not only a mountaineer, but a sky-diving instructor as well. He also volunteered with Urban Nature Partners PDX, and was a brand ambassador for Oregon-based Mountain House.