HOOD RIVER, Ore. (AP) - A 55-year-old oncologist descending from the summit of Mount Hood died after a rock fell from the snow and knocked him a thousand feet downhill, authorities said.
     
Dr. Gary Lee of Eugene was an experienced climber who was with his son, Devon, Sunday afternoon when a rock "dislodged from the ice above" and hit him at about 9,000 feet on the 11,239-foot peak, the Hood River County sheriff's office said in a statement.
     
He fell about 1,000 feet before coming to rest in an area of rock and ice above Eliot Glacier, the sheriff's office said.
     
Lee specialized in palliative care for terminally ill patients, his practice's Web site said. He was medical director of hospice at Sacred Heart Medical Center. He had practiced in Eugene since 1984.
     
Efforts to retrieve his body began Monday. One mountaineer said it would be dangerous because of what he called the crumbling, "rotten rock" and softening snow that mark summer climbing on the volcanic peak.
     
Steve Rollins of Portland Mountain Rescue said a team of 13 people would begin climbing toward the body Monday afternoon in an operation that might last until Tuesday or later.
     
Falling rock on the volcanic peak will pose a threat to the recovery party, Rollins said. "In many cases the rock is glued together with ash the consistency of toothpaste," he said.
     
The area in which Lee died is described as vertical snow, ice and rock.
     
The climber's body was spotted Sunday evening by helicopter crews from the Oregon National Guard. The sheriff's office said that authorities were able to confirm his condition from the air.
     
Additional details about Lee's climbing party were not immediately available.
     
In December 2006, climber Kelly James of Texas died of hypothermia in the same area of the mountain. His body was found in a snow cave, but the bodies of the two other men in his party, Brian Hall of Texas and Jerry Cooke of New York, were never found.
      
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)