BEND, OR -- A 24-year-old Bend man was rescued from South Sister, following an eight-hour operation by Deschutes County Search and Rescue. Adam Redfield activated the “SOS” feature on his emergency "SPOT" device, Wednesday afternoon. He'd reached the summit but reportedly got lost and became disoriented during his descent. International Emergency Response Coordination contacted Deschutes County 911 at about 4:30 p.m. to report the SPOT activation between South Sister and Broken Top, although there was no way to contact Redfield to find out the nature of his problem.

Redfield's friends confirmed he set out at 4:30 a.m., intending to summit South Sister and then return home. They described him as very experienced in the back country and avalanche trained. 

A DCSO SAR team located his car at the Devil's Lake Trailhead and skied into the Moraine Lake area to search for the man in intermittent rainy conditions. At about 9:10 p.m., they established voice contact with Redfield. They found him in a snow cave at 9:30. He told the team his cell phone battery had died and he wasn't sure the SOS signal had worked; he was preparing to spend the night, although he had not brought overnight supplies.

Redfield was cold but unhurt. The SAR team helped him back down to the Cascade Lakes Highway, arriving after midnight.