Snowboarder dies in fall from Mount Hood

MOUNT HOOD, Oregon (CNN) -- An Argentinian snowboarder died Friday after falling off a glacier on Oregon's Mount Hood, according to the Hood River County Sheriff's Department.

The victim, Juan Carlos Munoz, 30, and three other snowboarders had climbed the mountain from the peak's Timberline Lodge, said Chief Deputy Dwayne Troxel.

The companions took the safer south face route, while Munoz took the more dangerous north face route.

"It's very steep at the top," Troxel said. "And if you do fall and slide, gravity has a way of traveling you around, taking you north and spitting you out off of Eliot Glacier."

Since 1970 about 20 people have fallen from the north face, and many of them died, he said.

"The frequency is picking up," Troxel said. "It used to happen every other year, now it's about every year."

An Air Force Reserve helicopter recovered the snowboarder, who had fallen at a point about 3,500 feet from the mountaintop, Troxel said. The vertical drop from the top of the glacier is 200 feet, he said.

U.S. Forest Service Ranger Doug Jones said climbing to the mountaintop is quite popular, but descending down the north face on a snowboard "sounds a little silly, putting it mildly."

The victim's companions said they did not realize he was missing until they reached the lodge. A search plane spotted him about an hour after they reported him missing, Troxel said.