Snowboarder's Death on Mt. Hood Under Investigation

Although this death is being investigated as accidental, the exact cause has not been determined.

Mt. Hood in Oregon Courtesy: Wikipedia

(MOUNT HOOD, Ore.) - Mt. Hood Meadows Ski Patrol notified the Hood River County Sheriff's office Monday at about 6:30 p.m., that a snowboarder had been found deceased after being reported missing about an hour earlier.

Detective Matt English with the sheriff's office says the snowboarder was later identified as 18-year old Levi Krukowski of Portland. Levi Krukowski had been snowboarding with friends in the Heather Canyon area of the Mt. Hood Meadows Ski Resort, according to English.

"He had been with friends when he went missing near an area marked as a hazard. The hazard area was marked with a rope."

The Mt. Hood Meadows Ski Patrol located Levi rukowski's body in a creek near the bottom of a waterfall. The creek was within the hazard area and required crossing the rope boundary to access.

Personnel from the Hood River County Sheriff's Office and United States Forest Service Law Enforcement responded to investigate the death, English said.

"Investigators estimated that Krukowski had fallen approximately forty feet into a snow crevasse. As a result, Krukowski landed in the creek that was running through the bottom of the crevasse and was found partially submerged in the water."

Although this death is being investigated as accidental, English said the exact cause has not been determined.

An autopsy is scheduled at the Oregon State Medical Examiner's Office on Wednesday.