randita

"The highest percentage of women in SAR units I've seen are horse and dog units." Hey, I resemble that remark! Thanks for your response and I got a good laugh out of that sentence. Hope you don't mind my pulling your chain. Happy Holidays and thanks to all the SAR teams and all they do.

Can someone tell me if there are many women involved in the SAR effort or on SAR teams in general? And if so, what are the most likely roles played by women on any of the teams?

Sorry for my ignorance but are the Pearly Gates visible in the picture you posted or are they on the south side?

This was in the Dallas News report about the phone call James made to his family: "He learned his dad was dug into a cave on the northern face of Mount Hood near the summit. Half an orange remained in his food supply, he was lying on his backpack to stay off the snow, and he was weak, cold and wet." See http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/121606dnmetclimbers.11dd082b.html

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/121606dnmetclimbers.11dd082b.html

I was wondering how they knew so many specifics re a time line. No doubt this is their reference: http://www.katu.com/news/4956501.html "Photos taken by Kelly James raise concerns over ability to survive" The photos would have a time/date stamp on them. At first, I thought perhaps they had left a note with James, but it was the pix, no doubt.

This map and the text with it will help answer some of your questions: http://www.oregonlive.com/cgi-bin/prxy/accessor/nph-repository-cache.cgi/base/pdf_captions/1166505904155620.pdf Kelly was found in the first cave in which all 3 spent the first night. From all indications, only the other two went on from there and constructed the second cave, which some consider not really a cave, but more like a hasty shelter to get out of the weather while they worked or rested. It was in the second cave/shelter that they found the sleeping pad. My guess is that the two used it to sit on while working or else just left it behind because they didn't plan to spend any more nights sleeping on the mountain after that--just my guess. As to the phone call from James to his family, I've read the report about it from his son and don't recall anything about him not have a bivy sack. In fact, in a note left ahead of time, the climbers said they DID have bivy sacks. In the phone call, James did say he was lying on his pack, but that doesn't necessarily mean he wasn't also in his bivy sack as well. A pack would provide extra insulation from the snow covered ground. Also, information relayed by James in that call may be unreliable as he was possibly seriously injured and in some parts of the call, sounded very confused. I don't recall reading anything about James condition when he was found, other than that he was lying in a fetal position and was fully clothed.

Thanks for the link to the map--that is REALLY helpful. Pardon my ignorance, but is it common thought that the climbers, after summiting headed down thinking they were on the Cooper Spur, discovered their error, dug the 3 person cave for the night at which point they made the decision to split up. Then the two climbers, leaving the injured James, corrected their mistake and went across the mountain to the Cooper Spur where they constructed the belay shelter -- their last known location? That sequence of events seems likely from viewing the map detail. I looked up Cloud Cap Campground (which the map shows was directly above the belay shelter on Cooper Spur (can't tell how far from the map). The info I read said there was a gravel road leading to Cloud Cap -- is that really so?

"Could someone tell me what are acceptable questions-posts-comments to be made on this forum? " Been trying to figure that out myself. Maybe I'm wrong, but I'm sensing that there are a lot of frayed nerves because this situation hits very close to home for many. Just thicken your skin, post or ask what you want, but don't take it personally if you get slammed or if your post gets deleted. But please don't bog down this thread with questions about information that can easily be googled, keyword searched on this board, or learned from scanning the previous posts in this thread or on other threads on this website. That's just laziness.

Thank you for your recap of the news conference. There must have been a note left or else how would they know all those specifics?

There are lots of questions and few answers at this point. One of the notes left by the three said they were carrying fuel, but the amount was not specified.

No, haven't watched TV news all day. Source for the original phone call story: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/121606dnmetclimbers.11dd082b.html

The info you cite was from a phone call James made in which he seemed delirious, according to his family. It's possible some of what James said in that call was truthful, but it's also possible that none of what he said was.

The info you cite was from a phone call James made in which he seemed delirious, according to his family. It's possible some of what James said in that call was truthful, but it's also possible that none of what he said was.

One or more of the climbers had the presence of mind and the strength to build two snow caves in very adverse weather conditions. I doubt one lone man, esp. if injured could do that.