Hoist in the high Cascades: Coast Guard lifts injured hiker from treacherous Oregon mountaintop
Sep 13, 2026, 11:03 AM
A Coast Guard rescue helicopter lifts an injured hiker to safety from Oregon's Three Sisters Wilderness area. (Photo: U.S. Coast Guard)
(Photo: U.S. Coast Guard)
A Coast Guard helicopter crew rescued an injured hiker from treacherous conditions in the mountains of central Oregon last week.
A man suffered injuries to his knee and wrist while climbing in a lava field near North Sister in the Three Sisters Wilderness on Saturday of last weekend.
A ground search and rescue team, including EMTs, reached the injured man and provided initial treatment and stabilization.
They hoped to attempt a rope rescue, but conditions were not safe enough to carry out that plan.
They had to deal with steep terrain and loose rocks.
The ropes team could neither hike the patient out nor create anchors for a safe rope rescue.
Soon after, they determined they would need a helicopter airlift.
Watchstanders at the Coast Guard Northwest District command center received a message from the Oregon Emergency Operations Center around 4:00 p.m. that help was needed to reach an injured male hiker.
Authorities contacted a helicopter crew from Coast Guard Air Station North Bend, Oregon.
A rescue team aboard an MH-65 Dolphin soon arrived to assist with the evacuation.
The Coast Guard aircrew arrived about two hours later, hovering above the injured patient at the top of the North Sister.
The pilot of this MH-65 Dolphin rescue helicopter maneuvers into position to hoist the injured man from the steep terrain. (Photo: U.S. Coast Guard)
They had to deal with quickly deteriorating weather conditions, but were finally able to hoist the hiker in a Stokes basket rescue stretcher at around 7 p.m.
After getting the man onboard the chopper, the aircrew transported him to Eugene Airport, where an ambulance waiting there transferred him to Riverbend Hospital.
Coast Guard Lt. Cmd. Brandon Books, a search and rescue pilot based in North Bend, released a statement congratulating the rescue crew.
“Tough mountain hoists are always a big challenge, but our helicopter crew leaned on their everyday practice to stay calm and focused,” said Books. “That preparation, along with great help from our partner agencies on the ground, made it possible to lift the hiker out safely and get him the medical help he needed.”
