hawkeye69

AMEN.

i just read some of the letters to the editor on oregonlive.com. made me sick. if you read enough of them you will see folks bent out of shape about rescuers not helping the kim's (stranded motorists) but wanting to charge climbers. kim went up a road that had signs indicating that they were not maintained. he had no clue where he was going. the search started someplace between portland and sanfrancisco. i am fully outraged by the high costs of that rescue. therefore, i propose that ms. kim pay back ALL costs even if it takes the rest of her life. furthermore since she will be working all the time, she should just put her kids up for adoption. that will teach her, yeah.

as long as you are tryin to instill some merican values in those poor guys you might wanna think about gettin them to do this: raising the min. drinkin age, get them to attack contries on false pretenses, teach them to spray, teach them english for gawdsakes!

sorry, bad joke. beta requests bring out the monster in me...

mr. jones is an idiot. mlu's would only have been useful in recovering bodies. no disrespect to the climbers families.

first of all, the SAR statistics about number of rescues and dollars spent speak for themselves. i am sure that nobody wants to send Ms. Kim a bill for all the search efforts ot find her family in the coastal oregon mountains. but, hey, they drove by 3 signs indicating that the road was closed, how stupid was that? the bottom line is that these rescues show a great human spirit. a willingness for ohers to help those in peril. so to respond to someone who is worried about the bill you only need indicate that if it were them who needed help others would want to help them as well. no matter how fucking stupid they are.

that cactus must be in a sensitve spot. i hope it is a cholla.

i do not want to sound crass. i have nothing but sympathy for the climbers and their loved ones. but dude, have you read the news. they are not alive.

post count probably acounts for a computer geek who cannot find love. Is he talking about.... zimzam, there are many ways to get carpal tunnel syndrome....

hi, first of all: post count probably acounts for a computer geek who cannot find love. has nothing to do with being a expert. there are many very experienced climbers on this forum. most of them will have softer tones to their posts. it is difficult to determine who they are without some semblance of common sense. so let me trow some info out for you. this route i ideal conditions has been done and reported on (this website) in about 16-17 hours round trip on the path that these guys planned on taking. that is pretty quick. these guys were not making some fast trip on the mountain, i think they were well prepared. anyone who carries bivvy gear on hood is not fast and lite. speculating is a waste of electrons. when mr james called his family 8 days ago he was in trouble. throw in 5-6 days of some of the worst winter weather and there is virtually nothing anyone could have done. lastly, to the family, please dont beieve anything you read on this iste except for the outpouring of sympathy. there are too many losers in life and this site is a reflection of that at times. my deepest sympathy to you all.

there is some video on katu. some of it looks pretty nuclear (i think near cooper spur) but some of it in the trees looks pretty mellow. probably the way it is. but big new wave comin your way with winds of 65 mph in willamette valley... this site is linked on kgw.com, fyi

i think i know how you are feeling. there are always doubts about it in this situation.

i too, have wondered if everything is being done. but when you look at the conditions, evaluate the risks and think about what you are looking for, it seems like there is little else we can do but hope for a break in the weather. it is very sad and frustrating. i hope to volunteer in the future, but i may be one of those old guys there. as a young guy i was too busy doing my own thing.

Q: How fast does the wind have to be in order to "blow a person away" and not just knock them over? Is there a specific formula for this? A: There is no specific formula to determine at what wind speed a person would be knocked over or even blown away. The Beaufort wind scale, in use since 1805, is based on observations of the effects of the wind. Number 8 on this scale is a gale-force wind (39 to 46 mph) and would be sufficient to knock the average person over. Number 12 on the scale is hurricane-force (74 mph and greater), certainly enough to “blow a person away.” from the internet, must be right....

clearly it is not tonton season...besides, those light sabers need recharging all too frequently...

jon, not attackin you. but there are many others looking at this web site right now for opinions and what not. i agree with you, someone might be able to summit. i just dont know what they would do, nor is it without some risk to themselves. think about what they are lookin for in a whiteout. a hole in the snow? in conditions like these my guess is that they are gonna be so busy with their own survival that only blind dumb luck would lead to finding anything.

perhaps you answered yourself....

some of the news reports indicate winds of up to 100 mph. dont know how good anyone is in that, except maybe as a kite...

thinkin on the route, and there are guysngals who know better than i on here, the pearly gates would seem to be the place to avvy. i agree that someone might make it up there, but then trying to rescue them? that might be pretty tough. as far as the older guys, the rescue I am sure takes all types of positions and some of them may be coordinators. furthermore, since many are volunteers, dont bag on em. whether they are 30 or 70 they are still vounteering. severeal years ago i did a loooong day trip with some Mtn Rescue guys. I was the old guy at 40 and they were all at least 10 yrs younger. i kicked their ass in terms of technical and aerobic abilities. so dont discount the old guys. edit: good point, reaching the upper n face would be extremely dangerous in these conditions if not down right suicidal...

as bad as you miscreants are, you have a lot of experience to offer. perhaps they should show some of the spray threads, that'd impress em...

runningrat, you can do it. mt adams so side would be good. only real requisite for this type of stuff is some hiking, routefinding type of knowledge. take a map and compass and know how to use them. mt rainier is definitely more serious and takes some other skills.

not if you set it on vibrate

tell him thanks from a desk jockey and i wish him the safest stint poossible!

kudos to all of you guys who have volunteered. i hope to do that one day myself. with the current situation going on, it is hard to imagine a more worthwhile way to help your brother climbers.

i may have come across a bit harsh in my first post. hood already has the requirements of a cell phone or locator unit. seems alright. plus as some guys already mentioned there aint no 24 hour ranger to talk to. plus, living in portland or seattle does not necessarily equal super alpinist. it does not exclude it, but does not necessarily show experience either. IMHO some folks are taking guide books, web sites and all manner of stuff to literally, using it as verbatim gospel as to what their adventure will be. while this stuff is useful and great (and a thumbs up to TR's always), it is not ever a substitute for saving your own ass or being responsible for it. the higher volcanic cascades seem to draw climbers in who may not fully appreciate the horrific weather that we can have, especially in winter. my guess is it aint too different from what one would find in patagonia known for some of the worse weather in the world. if you have not experienced that weather first hand, it is difficult to understand. for this web site, perhaps one of you guys could put a sticky together about the potential weather. i know some of the books that talk about climbing rainier in winter discuss the horrific weather. increased regulation is never the solution (IMHO).