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(CNN) — A 16-year-old rock climber is somehow recovering with just a broken leg after falling 500 feet on Oregon’s Mount Hood.
On Monday morning the teen lost his grip while making his way up the Pearly Gates section of the mountain and fell 500 feet to the Devil’s Kitchen area below.
“He thought he was going to stop somewhere, and he was trying to arrest the fall with his ax, but it just didn’t happen because he was rolling so fast that he couldn’t do it,” Rishamdeep Singh, Gurbaz’s father, told KATU.
Rescue crews with the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office located the teen and stabilized his injured leg as they brought him down the snow-capped mountain, which reaches an elevation of 11,250 feet.
“It’s a technical mountain — it’s not a Sunday stroll, it’s inherently dangerous,” Lt. Brian Jensen of the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office told KATU.
The teen was transferred to an area hospital where he is expected to recover.
“He’s talking to family and friends,” his father said. “He’s in good spirits.”
Once Gurbaz is fully healed, his father said he and his son plan on going back to Mount Hood and conquering the climb together.
CNN’s Chenelle Terry contributed to this report.