A snowboarder was found dead on Sunday after he was buried by snow and ice on a mountain in Oregon, police and family said.
Collin Backowski’s body was found buried under 8 to 10 feet of snow and ice on Mount Hood on Sunday morning, said Lieutenant Tiffany Peterson, a spokeswoman for the Hood River Country Sheriff’s office.
Backowski was reported missing on Saturday afternoon, Peterson said. The 25-year old Colorado man had been snowboarding with five friends from the children’s snowboarding camp he worked at when he broke off from the group and boarded under an ice cave, his father, John Backowski said.
“He was very good at helping other people with [snowboarding],” said John Backowski.
“It never worried me what he was doing late at night. It worried me to death what he was doing when he died,” said Backowski.
“He was doing what he loved.”
Backowski said his son had sent him a photo from the fatal trip and said, “I wouldn’t go where he was when he took that picture."
Peterson said that "12 personnel used chainsaws and other hand tools" to remove "several tons of debris" from the trapped snowboarder's body.
“He chose to live out there on the edge with the snowboarding and I obviously wanted more from him,” Backowski said, but added, “I would never try to take it away from him. He loved it.”