Experienced climber found dead in Mount St. Helens volcano crater 1,200 feet below summit

An experienced climber was found dead on Saturday inside the crater of Mount St. Helens, a volcano in Washington state that draws hikers, skiers and snowboarders year-round. Officials say he was attempting to snowboard and died after falling roughly 1,200 feet from the summit, where an icy ridge had cracked off near the rim beneath his feet.

The climber was identified as Roscoe "Rocky" Shorey, a 42-year-old from Washougal, Washington, according to the Skamania County Sheriff's Office. In a statement, the office called Shorey "an experienced mountain climber" who had successfully reached the summit of Mount St. Helens 28 times before. 

When he arrived at the summit of Mount St. Helens, authorities believe that Shorey encountered an enormous cornice that proceeded to break away from the rest of the volcano and crash inward into the crater. A cornice is essentially an overhanging block of snow that is tightly-packed and perched atop a mountain crest or ridge. They can become less sturdy and harder to detect in warmer weather.