Officials in Oregon’s Hood River County say a man who had scaled one of Mount Hood’s most challenging routes has died after being hit by falling rock.

A statement from Hood River County Sheriff Joe Wampler says crews were trying to recover the 55-year-old man’s body from the mountainside.

The area in which the accident happened is described as vertical snow, ice and rock, at an elevation of about 9,000 feet near the Elliot Glacier.

The sheriff’s office says the man’s body was spotted Sunday evening by helicopter crews from the Oregon National Guard.