Apparently rescue crews are heading up towards Illumination Saddle for an accident involving 3 climbers. No other news as of yet, haven't seen any "breaking news" on the reliable tele yet either.

Mt Doom strikes again.....

Sure has been a lot going on up there in the past couple months. People are really going to think that climbers are idiots. Oh well, I still say screw them and keep living it up out there, where it's beautiful.


Just had an update:
according to the GPS coordinates that the climbers gave, rescuers think that the group may be in the White River Caynon.
The group (8) camped over night at Illumination Saddle, and were heading down in a white out. 3 climbers fell off cornice, cliff...or something. That's what is known so far, I am sure that the info will probably change several times until it's all over and everyone's down safe.

Wow, Illumination Saddle has dropped 1,000 feet. This global warming stuff is serious business!

Interesting that they think they are in WRC. Most folks coming off IS in a white-out end up in Zigzag Canyon. These guys would have had to make a conscious choice and/or an extreme course (over)correction to end up way over in WRC.

According to KATU.com, they are now looking for a total of 10 climbers. "A man and woman activated their MLUs, signaling they are in trouble." But they don't know if that party is injured or lost.

I haven't been to this site since the big story of the three missing hikers in Dec. wound down.
Today I've had the strong urge to check in and this is what I find!
This could be really, really terrible news!
I bet all you regulars here hope the lost are again found and that all of us "strangers" are the ones that GET LOST!

I think that the climbers over compensated -trying to avoid heading towards Zig Zag and ended up near WRC. I have almost done that before, but checked the GPS and got myself back on track. I think that it was the sign of glide cracks in the snow that made me think...

There was not a man and woman in trouble after all according to katu now.

Hmmm, still has both on the site right now:

top story says:


"BREAKING NEWS

Five climbers that were part of an eight-member climbing party have been located and are being brought down Mount Hood. Three members of the party remain missing after falling off a ledge. Also, rescuers are now saying that a couple reported lost on the mountain was a mistaken report. ?

Bottom one says:

"Two rescues under way on Mount Hood, total of ten climbers in trouble

One of the rescue operations is an effort to reach an eight-person climbing party, three of whom fell off a ledge, and the other is to find a man and a woman who activated their locator units and made a 911 call saying they were lost."
___________________________________________________________

Pointing out only that it's better to jump on it fast and figure out if it is really really true or did happen sometime later.

No shortage of sad tales, just under the climber story:

"A 13-year old Eugene-area boy died Saturday afternoon in a skiing accident at Willamette Pass Resort ski area. The victim is identified as Nathan Daniel McBryde, a 7th grader enrolled at Cal Young Middle School.

On February 17, 2007, McBryde traveled to the ski area with his mother reportedly as part of a Boy Scout outing. According to a witness, he was skiing downhill on a lower mountain intermediate run when he attempted to turn and travel across the hill.

McBryde lost control and struck the root ball of a downed tree, receiving multiple injuries. He was pronounced deceased at the scene by responding medical personnel.

An Oregon State Police trooper from the Gilchrist work site responded to the ski area to gather information.

Assistance at the scene given by members of the Willamette Pass Ski Patrol and Crescent EMS. Air Life air ambulance reportedly also responded to the scene to assist."

There are 8 total: 5 found, 3 located and supposedly close to being reached by SAR.

There were 8 total climbers, who spent the night in a snow cave up by Illumination. 5 have been rescued. The other 3 have been in contact with searchers and reportedly are close to being reached.

3 climbers survive fall from Mount Hood
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070219/ap_o...y7heUdX4USs0NUE

PORTLAND, Ore. - Rescuers located three climbers who fell from a ledge on Mount Hood on Sunday and all appeared to be in "relatively decent" condition, a sheriff's spokesman said.

Rescuers were in the process of rappelling about 150 feet down a cliff to reach them, said Jim Strovink, spokesman for the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office.

"We believe all three are in relatively decent" condition, Strovink said. One was believed to be fine; the other two may have concussions, Strovink said.

The rescue efforts were being complicated by heavy snow and wind on the mountain, but authorities said the climbers were wearing electronic locator devices. Rescuers were staying in contact with them by cell phone.

"They're very cold," said Russell Gubele, who was coordinating communications for the rescue operation.

Five others who were in the climbing party also were located and were on the way off the mountain, Strovink said.

Emergency dispatchers received a call for help from someone in the group earlier Sunday. The group was believed to be at an elevation of 8,300 feet.

The mountain can be treacherous for climbers, particularly in the winter. In December, search teams scoured Mount Hood for days in the hopes of finding a group of missing climbers alive. The bodies of Brian Hall, of Dallas, and Jerry "Nikko" Cooke, of New York, have not been found. Another climber in their group, Kelly James, of Dallas, died of hypothermia.

Mmmmm...LLLL...UUUU.......mmmust....activate....nnnnowww!


WTF people? Just because it was a nicey nice day Saturday doesn't mean Sunday or the rest of the week will be that way!

This was a clear case of idiots ignoring the forecast I think.

With the warm temps I wouldnt want to be anywhere near the pearly gates or west crater. It was probably raining ice chunks.

in a white out. I'm glad all will be okay, but jeez, it does seem like a lot of folks are not looking at long range (beyond 24 hours) forecasts these days. It seems like holing up at Illumination Saddle for another night would have been the thing to do rather than trying to trudge back to Timberline in those conditions.

WWATD?

what would a tauntaun do?

Just got back from there ... conditions are horrible. Although not as cold as the January search, the visibility and snow conditions are much worse.
Difficult to pinpoint their exact location. (The MLU's aren't always the answer!!!)
Currently involved in the efforts are PMR, AMR RAT, PJ's (304th), Crag Rats, Mt. Wave, CCSO, and Timberline. On for tomorrow are Eugene and Corvalis MRA teams.
Good luck to everyone out there!!!

By the way Barker ... you should talk to your KATU friends!! The webpage has White River Canyon where the Reid is. Don't they do their homework??

Dude, I know. Just noticed it. It's 153am and I just got home from the mountain too. Long day. Up at 0430 to ski patrol at meadows. Our website is... well... I'll try to fix it.

Best of luck to all the rescuers! I'm astounded every time I cover one of these incidents how professional, selfless and kind hearted the mountain rescue community is here in Oregon. My thoughts are with those three folks tonight. Cold up there...

cnn says the three stranded climbers have a labrador retriever with them. anDa owittHa?

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/...lnews-headlines

Does anyone have any more recent details?

Thanks go out to the volunteers for their tireless efforts. I hope they stayed warm last night as they camped out on the hill.

These threads always seem to get a little depressing. Then along comes the "why did they do that"s.

I understand that the effort is going well. The SAR folks are at the site as of last night and plan to resume rescue after sunup this morning.

So I wanted to share a favorite sunrise on Mt Hood pic. This is from a few years back and was taken on arrival at portland international. Great idea why we do it.

Latest we've heard, the search resumed at first light, but they have yet to reach the 3 lost climbers. Three SAR groups are said to be closing in on the climbers from different approaches. The climbers report by cell that they are chilly but fine. Gnarly weather out there, blowing and white.

KATU Survey on their website today:

Do you think Mount Hood climbers should be required to wear locators? Yes No

Only for Hood? What's next?? What about the other 90+% of non-climbers that get lost??