After five days of staring into the Mount Adams wilderness, looking for a sign of hope but fearing there was none, Sophia Mamoyac found out Friday afternoon her vanished brother was alive.
Derek Mamoyac, 27, of Philomath was reported missing Monday when he didn't return from what was supposed to be a one-day climbing trip on 12,277-foot-tall Mount Adams, the second-tallest mountain in Washington. Searchers had been combing the flanks of the mountain ever since. TO READ FULL ARTICLE CLICK READ MORE IN LOWER CORNER
Friday afternoon came the word family members and searchers had waited for: A dog team had picked up the scent of a granola bar Mamoyac had eaten and followed it to him. He was dehydrated and had a broken ankle and swollen legs but was otherwise in good shape.
"It's like waking up from a horrible dream," Sophia Mamoyac said Friday night while driving back to Portland, where her brother was headed for treatment after being airlifted from the mountainside. "Words can't even describe it."
Mamoyac was admitted to Legacy Emanuel Hospital & Health Center in fair condition.
Family members spoke with him briefly by phone and planned to visit him at the hospital as soon as they reached Portland.
"He sounded really good," Sophia Mamoyac said.
The family plans to release more information today.
A warm welcome greeted the first of about 20 rescuers returning Friday night to the base camp just above 5,000 feet on Mount Adams.
Jill Bartlett and others spoke glowingly of Mamoyac after he was found alive after five frigid days and nights on the mountain.
"He was in very good shape for what he went through," Bartlett said. "I don't know how he did it."
But the searchers had a clue. Bartlett and a few other rescuers spent several hours with him after he was found about 2 p.m. in a densely wooded area on the Round the Mountain Trail on the mountain's west side.
Mamoyac told them he ate centipedes and other bugs after running out of food early in the week. He drank water from creeks
