Rescue Effort for Fallen Hiker Resumes at Mount St. Helens

Feb. 16, 2010 — -- Rescuers have resumed efforts to save a man trapped in the crater at Washington's Mount St. Helens but are battling imposing weather conditions, authorities said.

Despite early reports that the man, 52-year-old Joseph Bohlig of Kelso, Wash., was blowing an emergency whistle, at last sighting he was not moving, according to one rescuer.

"The pilot did a reconnaissance flight, got up relatively close, could not see any movement," chief Tom McDowell of the North Coast EMS Rescue Team told "Good Morning America" Monday. "He didn't make any effort to signal the helicopter."

This morning officials requested air support from the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center, but high winds, snow, rain and low cloud cover are expected to hamper rescue efforts today, according to a statement from the Skamania County Sheriff's Office.

According to authorities, Bohlig was an experienced hiker who had climbed the mountain as many as 68 times. Rescuers believe he was hiking with a partner and was posing for a picture on a ledge of snow when it gave way and he slid 1,500 feet into the crater. The other hiker did not fall.

"It would have been a very significant, injurious fall on the way down," McDowell said.

A Coast Guard helicopter could not lower a hoist Monday due to high winds. A mountain medic dropped onto the crater floor could not fight his way up to the stranded climber before dark.