Couple Trapped Above Crater Lake
Tri-City Herald
Pacso, Kennewick, Richland, Washington
June 17, 1968
Crater Lake, Ore. (AP)
- A young couple made preparations at dusk Sunday to spend a cold night
precariously perched 700 feet above Crater Lake in southern Oregon.
The identity of the two young hikers was unknown, as was how they came to be
stranded in such an unlikely spot — a tiny ledge on the ancient volcanos nearly
vertical rim.
Acting Supt. Paul Larson at Crater Lake National Park said he could net
explain how the couple reached the spot without tumbling into the glassy waters
of the lake.
Larson was alerted to their plight by tourists who heard cries for help. When
he and some 15 rangers failed to reach them on foot, a helicopter was summoned
from Medford, Ore. about 45 miles southwest of the park.
Pilot Chris Woudstra, of Rosenbaum Aviation in Medford, recently returned
from flying helicopters in Vietnam, decided it was getting too dark to attempt a
rescue. He dropped sleeping bags, c-rations and lanterns to the couple, along
with a note from Larson explaining the rescue plans.
Woudstra said he would try to lift them off the crater nm at first light
Monday.
If he fails, Larson said another way would be found to get to the couple
without endangering their lives. To approach them from above, Larson said, would
be to invite a rockslide. An approach from below seemed almost impossible.
