College student spends a week alone, trapped on Mt. Hood

Alone and injured in the cold and snow, a 23-year-old Oregon college student says she feels lucky to have made it through nearly a week stranded on Mount Hood.

From her hospital bed, Mary Owen told KGW TV she had wanted to hike the mountain for years. She had finally made a plan to take on the challenge with some friends during spring break, but at the last minute the rest of her crew backed out.

“I just kind of got it into my head that I wanted to go by myself, which was not a good idea. I definitely regret that,” said Owen.

Owen checked in at Timberline Lodge at 11 a.m. Sunday, March 24. She was planning to summit the mountain and be back at base camp around midnight, but Sunday evening the weather took a turn for the worse.

The snow created white out conditions. Owen became disoriented and started heading the wrong way. She was funneled into a canyon.

“The snow was so deep it was like swimming up stream if I tried to fight it, so I just went with it,” said Owen.

As she was trying to find her way, her ice ax slipped. She fell down through the ice and rocks about 40 feet, badly injuring her leg on the way.

She decided to make a snow hollow, go to sleep and assess the damage in the morning. On Monday, she found she could hardly lift her leg and knew she would not be able to walk out on her own.

Owen stayed in once place for a couple of nights, melting snow in her water bottle during the day, nibbling on Nutri-Grain bars, ramen and chia seed, and dozing on and off to conserve her strength.

Then she noticed a trickle of snow that could have been the beginning of an avalanche. So, Owen crawled to another canyon, built herself another snow cave, and waited two more nights for someone to find her.

“It was so discouraging, because I was just like ‘Where is everybody?'” said Owen.

Her registration had been lost, so the staff at Mount Hood did not realize she was on the mountain.

On Wednesday, her family called police. On Thursday, they found her car at the base of the mountain. But it wasn’t until Saturday morning that they finally found Owen.

She is an experienced hiker and she says she never thought that she might die, although there were times she wished she would.

Owen is still in the hospital recovering from injuries to both her legs and frostbite on both her feet.

She says she plans to continue hiking, but will stick to safer areas the next time she goes out alone.