Snowboarder Missing Since 8/3/13 on Mount Hood in Oregon after Ice Tunnel Collapse (Update: Body of 25 Year Old Collin Backowski Recovered)

25 year old Collin Backowski of Pines, CO is missing after an ice tunnel collapse on Saturday, August 3, 2013 on Mount Hood in Oregon.According to accounts,  Backowski was buried him under a large piece of ice. Authorities said early on that the situation looked grim as it was highly unlikely that the snowboarder could have survived. Backowski was snowboarding with 5 other companions, all in their 20′s, however, none were injured in the collapse. Following the collapse, they tried to dig the snowboarder out, but were unable to break through thick snow and ice.

Rescuers believe it is unlikely Backowski survived a tunnel collapse that buried him under a large piece of ice, said Sgt. Pete Hughes, a spokesman for the Hood River County Sheriff’s Office, in a statement early Sunday.

Backowski, 25, and five other men in their twenties were looking for a place to snowboard Saturday on Mt. Hood’s south slopes when they entered a tunnel formed by melting snow at an elevation of about 8,100 feet. The tunnel collapsed, trapping Backowski under a piece of ice described as the size of a school bus.

Body of missing Collin Backowski recovered Sunday following ice tunnel collapse on Mount Hood.

A search team on Oregon’s Mount Hood retrieved the body of a snowboarder on Sunday, a day after he was buried beneath falling ice and snow as he explored an ice tunnel, the local sheriff’s office said.

The snowboarder, identified as 25-year-old Collin Backowski, was exploring the mountain on Saturday with five other men in their 20s, and went ahead of the group to check out a tunnel melted into the ice and snow, according to the Hood River County Sheriff’s Office.

“The top caved in on them,” said Lieutenant Tiffany Peterson, a spokeswoman for the office. Two of the other snowboarders were hit by debris, but they escaped without injury.

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