Elleth

BREAKING NEWS: Searchers find signs of one of the climbers A helicopter surveying the Mount Hood summit this morning has captured images of what appears to be a snow cave, scattered equipment and what looks like frozen tracks in the snow. Search organizers plan to airlift pararescuers to the summit by helicopter so they can make their way to the area by foot.

From Oregonlive.com "Though search officials expected the first team up the mountain to reach the peak by 10 a.m., those searchers were still shy of the top by 10:45 a.m."

you can get the Live video stream here: http://www.katu.com/

I have found that if you do a clean refresh (CTRL + F5) on the updates page you can get the news before it's posted on the front page.

Ruedi I am getting the info from Oregonlive.com They seem to have the most up to date info: http://www.oregonlive.com/

Ukegen, that information is from the Orgeonian, a local Portland newspaper. You can access the information here: http://www.oregonlive.com/

Latest update as of 1:10 pm Saturday, December 16, 2006 Searchers find two climbers; rescue operation planned A team of searchers is planning to mount a rescue of two people spotted about 11 a.m. near Tie In Rock, located on the Cooper Spur route of Mount Hood’s north side. The route where the rescuers are focusing their efforts is the same the trio of stranded climbers said they planned to take down Mount Hood. No indentities were confirmed. A helicopter will airlift a team of searcher to the location.

Latest from the Oregonlive.com: Saturday, December 16, 2006 Air search yields pair of climbers on north side; searchers doubt they are the lost climbers Searchers on a Black Hawk helicopter spotted two unidentified climbers at 9,200 feet on Mount Hood this morning, a discovery that has sent search teams scrambling to figure out if the pair are the lost men they’ve been looking for or rogue climbers. The men were spotted about 11 a.m. from the air near Tie In Rock. Searchers think the men, who do not appear to be in distress, are recreational climbers who are either unaware of a climbing ban on Mount Hood today or ignored the order. The men did not wave or signal to the helicopter. There was no indication the men could be rescuers. According to radio chatter about the discovery, one searcher said: “What I see is two guys about 500 yards off of Tie In Rock, sort of in the middle of the slope. Looks like one guy is standing over the top of a guy who is prone on the snow.” If the men turn out to be unrelated to the search effort, their discovery has been distracting to the dozens of searchers scaling the mountain today in what is a major push to find three climbers who have been lost for more than a week. Another helicopter is preparing to check out the men and a search team is being dispatched from Stone Shelter, which is about a three-hour hike to the location where the unidentified men were spotted. Meanwhile, the first of six rescue climber groups ascending the south face cleared 10,000-foot elevation by 11:15 a.m. only to encounter white-out conditions and high winds. They immediately dug snow caves for cover.

FYI: Saturday, December 16, 2006 One search team about to scale Mount Hood summit A team of searchers is just 1,000 feet short of Mount Hood and is preparing to scale the summit and descend the north face where one stranded climber has been holed up in a snow cave for more than a week. Hood River County sheriff’s Sgt. Gerry Tiffany said the search organizers have confirmed that one team is about to scale the summit. They will then descend the north side. Tiffany did not know how many searchers are on that team. He said they are reporting difficult conditions near the peak. It is windy and cold, they said. “They are proceeding but it’s slow going at the moment,” he said. About a half-dozen teams are scaling the mountain today in search of the stranded climbers. Tiffany said two Black Hawk helicopters are also in the air, moving slowly up and down the mountain as they trace the most common climbing routes. He said they are looking for the men and assessing avalanche dangers for the searchers. A C-130 military plane equipped with heat-seeking cameras is circling the mountain at 12,000 feet, looking for signs of the lost men. -Noelle Crombie noellecrombie@news.oregonian.com