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FROM YAKIMA HERALD 7/9 Search on for missing hiker on Mount Adams Capping a busy weekend, a search is under way on Mount Adams for a missing hiker who has already spent one unplanned night on the mountain. Yakima County sheriff's Sgt. George Town, coordinator of the sheriff's Search and Rescue team, said the missing hiker is a 55-year-old doctor from the Seattle area. According to Town, the hiker's climbing partner reported him missing Sunday evening, saying they separated as planned at 9:45 a.m. and hadn't seen each other since. Town said the climbing partner was more experienced than the missing hiker, who had planned to scout out the Lunch Counter area while his more experienced partner made a summit attempt. At 6:54 p.m., the climber called authorities to say he had returned to the Cold Spring trailhead, but his less experienced hiking friend had not returned. Town said Search and Rescue has four teams now on the mountain. One is a climbing team with technical skills. The other three teams are searching at lower elevations. The SAR mobile command post is on scene. The mountain was busy with climbers and hikers Sunday, Town said. Climbing conditions were ideal in spite of severe thunderstorm activity at sundown. "Nobody we've encountered has seen him, indicating he went a different way," Town said. The search was the third of the weekend for SAR, including another one on Mount Adams involving what turned out to be merely an overdue climber. "It's been pretty much nonstop since Friday," Town said. The other search was near Chinook Pass. It involved missing dirt bikers who also turned out to be merely overdue.

has anyone heard anything about a fatal climbing accident in the Mt. Baker National Forest?

Yep, we still monitor occasionally. Thanks "Bug" for the tip. CFire -- are you or your son willing to speak to a reporter?

AP-WA--RainierRecovery(T 05-24 0125 AP-WA--Rainier Recovery (Tops)< Two bodies brought down the mountain< ASHFORD, Wash. (AP) -- A helicopter has brought down the bodies of two climbers who died on Mount Rainier. The national park says they are the first deaths on the mountain this year. The bodies were spotted from a helicopter last night at sunset at about the eight-thousand-foot level on the Paradise Glacier. Rangers were flown back to the scene today to make the recovery. Fifty-seven-year-old Tim Stark and his 27-year-old nephew, Greg Stark, both of Lakewood, left Saturday for a climb to Camp Muir at ten-thousand feet. They were hit by a storm with whiteout conditions. A relative reported them overdue Sunday when they did not return home. (Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) APTV 05-24-05 1300PDT<

We've now confirmed the identities of two of the three. Jim Andreus, PCSO and John Miner, Redmond PD. We're told the third is also an employee of the city of Redmond but we're still awaiting the official release of that person's name.

we're being told two of the three are law enforcement. one works for redmond police -- the other for pierce county sheriff's department.

body of the third was found this morning. News conference planned for 12 in banff. We're trying to get the newser satellited in in time for our noon.

I think what you're asking is... can we release info without the names? Yes. We do it frequently to allow time for families to be notified. We can still talk to friends who knew these people and talk about what kind of people they are/where.

It is. Its sad when anyone loses their life -- but especially sad when its three people who have spent so much time saving others. My thoughts and prayers are with their families.

I know this is difficult. Is it possible for you to put us in touch with someone who knows these guys -- who can talk about how they loved the outdoors, etc. -- WITHOUT releasing their names. FYI -- the third body has just been found. So says CBC Calgary.

I got an update. Actually the climber is a 43-year old guy from Vashon. In serious condition in the ICU at Harborview with what they describe as "serious facial and extremity injuries."

Sorry I didn't get in yesterday. Here's the story we aired at 5. I'm still working to get an I-D on the guy -- and his condition this morning. (ENG/VO) *S SKYL1 Near Index ¶ A CLIMBING ACCIDENT TODAY NEAR INDEX, EAST OF MONROE. A MERCER ISLAND MAN WAS HURT ON WHAT LOCALS CALL THE 'CLIMBING WALL' -- A NEARLY VERTICAL FACE, THAT'S POPULAR AMONG LOCAL CLIMBERS. IT APPEARS THE MAN FELL WHEN HIS EQUIPMENT FAILED WHILE RAPELLING. ANOTHER CLIMBER HEARD HIS SCREAMS AND CALLED FOR HELP ON HER CELL PHONE. THE VICTIM HAS BEEN RUSHED TO HARBORVIEW. HE HAS MULTIPLE FRACTURES.

from the olympian 3/27 Mt. Rainier climbing fee rises Hyer N.S. NOKKENTVED THE OLYMPIAN OLYMPIA -- Climbers will soon pay more to climb Mount Rainier. Mount Rainier National Park will double the "mountaineering cost recovery fee" in May. The park will charge climbers $30 -- up from $15 -- to climb the mountain. Officials also eliminated the annual $25 pass. Climbing will cost a flat $30 for a single climb or several trips during the year. The new fee starts May 1. The permit would be good from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31. "With nearly 60 percent of Mount Rainier National Park's visitation coming from the Puget Sound area, we believe that the $30 flat fee for all climbers, whether you climb once or multiple times, is fair and equitable to the services that the staff of Mount Rainier provides in the climbing program," Superintendent David Uberuaga said in a statement. The decision was based on comments from the public and the need to accommodate rising numbers of climbers and rising expectations, he said. "I don't mind the fee," said Joe Hyer of the Alpine Experience. But he said he did have a problem with it being instituted without proper public involvement and a fee-review process. Other South Sound climbers have questioned what services climbers require that justified doubling the fee. Like all park visitors, climbers already pay an entrance fee in addition to the climbing fee. Some complain that higher fees make the mountain accessible to fewer numbers of people, especially young people who have little discretionary money. The park plans to re-evaluate the fee after three years and "could possibly increase as inflation and personnel costs dictate," a park news release said. Mount Rainier has collected the climbing fee since 1995. The money helps support the park's climbing program. It pays for climbing ranger salaries, removing human waste from the mountain and operating the wilderness information center, Chief Ranger Jill Hawk said earlier this year. In 2002, the park collected $151,320 in climbing fees. The climbing program also got about $110,000 from Congress. The program spent $260,000 in 2002. Doubling the fee would mean the program would take in about $300,000 in climbing fees, or about 3 percent of the park's total budget.

sorry its taken me so long to post on this. they've identified the two I've cut and pasted the BC article on it. from vancouver province Two Seattle men were identified Tuesday as the victims of a back-country avalanche in Kokanee Glacier provincial park. James Schmid, 42, and Ronald Gregg, 55, died after being buried in a slide Monday afternoon in the Grizzly Bowl area of the park, about 20 kilometres north of Nelson in the southern B.C. Interior. A total of 19 people now have been killed by avalanches in the B.C. back country since October, said Evan Manners, operations manager of the Canadian Avalanche Association, which provides warning bulletins three times weekly. The park is about 170 kilometres south of Glacier National Park near Revelstoke, where seven Calgary-area teenagers were killed last month in an avalanche while on a high school ski trip. An avalanche also killed three Americans and four Canadians on Jan. 20 while skiing on provincial Crown land about 30 kilometres from the site where the Alberta teenagers were killed. The warning bulletin for an area including the provincial park where the slide occurred recently had been downgraded to high from extreme, said Manners. The rating for most of western Canada last week was extreme because of a "significant storm that came in the previous week dumped up to a metre to metre and a half in the alpine," said Manners. "Now we're slowly improving." The danger rating in effect at the time of the avalanche indicates "that's a time when serious caution needs to be exercised if you are out there at all," said Manners. The hazard rating was downgraded on March 14, he said. Initial reports suggested the slide Monday buried two skiers out of a party of four. A search by B.C. parks officials and the RCMP search-and-rescue team found the victims but they were already dead. RCMP said they believed the men had hiked up to the area with plans to ski out. British Columbia's coroner's service is also investigating. The avalanche association's bulletins classify the risk levels as low, moderate, considerable, high and extreme. The rating for much of western Canada is usually considerable, said Manners. The B.C. government recently agreed to fund extraordinary risk-advisory bulletins put out by the association, meaning that if something significantly changes between the usual three bulletins -- such as freezing rain, severe temperature variations or increased avalanche activity -- the provincial cash will fund additional bulletins. The provincial government also launched a review of avalanche safety in the back country, bringing together scientists and ski industry groups. The review, expected to completed by June 30, will look at avalanche forecasting and warning bulletins, public awareness and research. "There's definitely an instability (in the mountains)," one of the rescuers told Global News Monday evening. "You've got to really be careful with the terrain that you pick to ski in." MORE INFO:Canadian Avalanche Association

Maybe you didn't see it -- but we actually DID do a story about that a couple of weeks ago -- maybe a month. Also did a story about the guy (sorry I don't remember his name) who has plans to climb in each continent -- and travel by his own power (bike, boat, etc) to get to those continents.

that is a GREAT idea! I will push that one in the days ahead! AWESOME SUGGESTION!

In a way. They steal our stuff all the time.

Thanks for all the comments I -- no WE -- appreciate them all. Unfortunately the cops wouldn't give us specifics on each trailhead. The best they would do is tell us "some are worse than others" and those along 90 and 2 are ALL hit frequently. I wish we could have given the story more time but 2-minutes is a lot in TV terms. If you all have any other suggestions that most of my non-hiking/climbing reporters might be able to turn, please feel free to PM me or send an e-mail to "newstips@king5.com"

despite what many think of the media " " I thought I'd pass on that we're doing a couple of stories at KING-5 tonight at 5 that ya'll might be interested in seeing. 1) car prowls at trailheads... what the county is doing to stop them (nothing) and how abundant they are 2) the death of a local man involved in the "rescue" of a 16-year old snowmobiler at greenwater early this morning. just lettin' ya'll know. I'm outta here for a few hours (they've graciously agreed to release me from my chains long enough to remind my kiddo what I look like.)

so much for your credibility. our chopper has been in the shop for three days -- you COULDN'T have seen it up there.

Isn't that what I do???? ha! we've been meaning to talk to you about that....

Unfortunately the media has to rely on S&R folks when dealing with things like this -- until we can find a better source. Clearly after seeing the pics and talking with Mike we now know this was not a case of "overdue HIKERS." He also explained the discrepancy in "not prepared to stay overnight." Not taking a bag doesn't amount to not being prepared. Sometimes perception is NOT reality. Another lesson learned!

you're not a selfish jerk. of course we'll pay you. look for the check in a month. they SHOULD be on the 5p news -- barring something stupid coming up like a shooting or something. I hate that -- but, you'll get the check regardless.

what great pics! can we use them on the news?? (I know - scum sucking evil media -- but I gotta ask!)

not interested in the climb -- but glad to see you're back among the living. you were in my prayers during and after the december thing. I've always wondered what became of you. good luck with the climb.