Good question. I was wondering the same thing myself. I was ready to give up hope last night, knowing what kind of weather was coming in, and hearing all week about their 'fast and light' campaign. If they've known about the note all week, and just now released it to the media and/or gave it to Airborne to hold up in a plastic bag like Exhibit A for the cameras to view, a lot of people like myself, who have been expecting the worst after hearing Thursday's weather forecast, wouldn't have been ready to needlessly throw in the towel. Knowing this now, my confidence is renewed, that as long as both Kelly and the other two were able to split up resources for both caves, I'm thinking the odds of survival just went way up if they can keep their air holes open with all the new snow. No, I have no experience with this, just an interested party, absorbing all the media reports like an average Joe who has never climbed anything. I'm in Texas and it's a long ways to the nearest snow capped mountain.
I've been glued to the TV and internet, and just now hearing about the teenagers who lasted 13 days(?) in 1976(?), who obviously had less experience than these guys. That would have been nice to have known sooner as well. I'm not a big fan of the media when it comes to the promptness and accuracy of their reporting.
Thanks to everyone who is helping the search rescue teams in any capacity. I'd be there myself if I thought there was some way I could contribute. I just found this discussion board, and can already tell it's the place to be for anyone interested in all the names of the locations on the mountain that the media is throwing around. They just don't have the time for a true description/map/routes of the mountain. A video article by the Oregonian newspaper was the most informative I've seen, and all they showed was the relative altitude of the cell phone pings. Too bad I don't know climbing terminology, cause right now it's a foreign language. Maybe one of you guys who know what's going on could freelance with the newspapers or TV stations and put out something good for us, so that when you find these guys, their locations will mean something to those of us less initiated. Not knowing the mountain or anything about climbing, just following all the reports is an adventure. Some of the rescue crews photos are phenominal. My favorite one looks like a moonwalk. Has anyone run into Neil Armstrong or Buzz Aldrin?
