Dru Posted February 18, 2003 Posted February 18, 2003 betcha someone makes it their avatar image next. Quote
chelle Posted February 18, 2003 Posted February 18, 2003 eternalX said: erik said: eternalX said: To_The_Top said: The reason some dont like the reports is because often the cost of rescues creeps into the news and then you have Joe 6 pack asking why climbers dont pay for the rescues, TTT  Why don't climbers pay for rescues?  --eternalX  why dont you pay for the cops and fire and ems services.  oh wait you already do, its called taxes.  You don't pay for EMS services? Tell the hosiptal that next time you get picked up by an ambulance or heli.  --eternal  I think you get charged only when a private company responds to the call. With re: to paying for climbing rescues, I think it was mentioned in a previous thread that it is actually prohibited by some legislation that the government charge for rescues. They are generally performed by government agancies or volunteers. Also, if they charge for climbing resuces the sure as hell better start charging lost hikers, boaters, horsepeople, snowmobilers, etc. They account for a much larger percentage of rescues. Enough! This topic has been discussed ad nauseum. Quote
COL._Von_Spanker Posted February 18, 2003 Posted February 18, 2003 From Associated Press and ARTURO SANTIAGO / KING 5 News   PARADISE, Wash. – Mount Rainier National Park has hired a private helicopter to help look for two missing climbers. If they are found and need rescuing, a bigger Army Reserve Chinook is standing by a Fort Lewis.  Park spokeswoman Lee Taylor said the climbers, who were due back Sunday, are 51-year-old Christopher McGinnis of Mukilteo and Quang Than of Newport Beach, California.  Two teams of ground searchers left Tuesday morning. One team of two fast-moving climbing Rangers is going to Camp Muir at the 10,000-foot level to see if the missing climbers made it that far.  They had plans to climb the Gibraltar Ledges route – the highest reaches of the Nisqually Glacier on the southern flank of the 14,411-foot mountain.  The second team is made up of four climbers from Tacoma and Olympic Mountain Rescue who are going up with additional gear. They hope to learn whether to concentrate the search above or below Camp Muir.  The missing men left Saturday from the Paradise station. A relative reported them overdue on Sunday night.  Taylor said both are experienced and well equipped. They may have dug in to wait for better weather.  Quote
Squid Posted February 18, 2003 Posted February 18, 2003 My party reached the Muir hut late on Friday. No one else was around. We stayed put through Saturday, and went back down to Paradise late Sunday morning. During our stay, only one other group arrived at Muir, and that was a group of five from the Tri-Cities. Saturday was a fierce white-out at Muir, and Sunday was worse. If the missing climbers had reached Muir, I suspect they would've entered the hut, if only for a respite from the storm. I hope they hunkered down, and are well. Â Quote
NEWSTIPS Posted February 18, 2003 Posted February 18, 2003 "Why does Jim Forman always get sent 300 miles" from Seattle? Â Well, frankly, he volunteers to go where the action is. If there's something interesting or exciting happening, Jim wants to be in the middle of it. Â Â Quote
proper Posted February 18, 2003 Posted February 18, 2003 Just heard, on 710 Kiro that the climbers have been found and are in good shape. They didn't say where they were found. Quote
proper Posted February 18, 2003 Posted February 18, 2003 http://www.komotv.com/stories/23133.htm Quote
AllYouCanEat Posted February 18, 2003 Posted February 18, 2003 http://komotv.com/stories/23133.htm  At least their tent was warm. Quote
catbirdseat Posted February 18, 2003 Posted February 18, 2003 They were "found" at 7,200 ft, below McClure Rock. Probably were just making their way down after crawling out of their bivy hole. Quote
Dru Posted February 18, 2003 Posted February 18, 2003 it doesnt say if them and the two missing women were found together or not.... Quote
COL._Von_Spanker Posted February 18, 2003 Posted February 18, 2003 proper said: Just heard, on 710 Kiro that the climbers have been found and are in good shape. They didn't say where they were found. Â Let's say they you are waiting out a storm, the weather clears and the rescuers show up. Do tell the rescuers to go away and finish the climb? Â That would suck if you are a competant climber, and you chill and wait out a storm, only to find a army of news personel waiting in the parking lot. But I guess it would suck more to not get rescued if you needed it. Quote
klenke Posted February 18, 2003 Posted February 18, 2003 We must demolish Mt. Rainier. That decrepit mountain has too many safety violations to be acceptable for climbing on. We need to build a bigger and better and safer mountain in its place. Who's with me? Paul Allen could pay for half. Quote
erik Posted February 19, 2003 Posted February 19, 2003 klenke said: We must demolish Mt. Rainier. That decrepit mountain has too many safety violations to be acceptable for climbing on. We need to build a bigger and better and safer mountain in its place. Who's with me? Paul Allen could pay for half. Â Â Quote
Dru Posted February 19, 2003 Posted February 19, 2003 wait a while  it'll take care of business itself Quote
iain Posted February 19, 2003 Posted February 19, 2003 cool! that means I won't miss out on buying the shot glasses made from volcano ash this time around. Quote
nerdom Posted February 19, 2003 Posted February 19, 2003 I heard about the successful "rescue" of these guys this morning on, of all places, the Weather Channel!! Good to hear they're safe and sound. Quote
Montana_Climber Posted February 19, 2003 Posted February 19, 2003 "It was unclear how the foursome ended up together, she said." Â Seems pretty obvious to me... Quote
Bronco Posted February 20, 2003 Posted February 20, 2003 4 lost on Rainier not hard to find   By Todd C. Frankel Herald Writer  A mountain rescue team was supposed to find the four climbers missing on Mount Rainier.  Fay Pullen, 60, of Kent stumbled onto them first.  She was skiing alone Tuesday in dense fog and snow when she spotted the missing four, including one from Mukilteo, at an elevation of about 7,200 feet in the Paradise Glacier area. She brought help with a cell phone call to 911.  Pullen, wife of King County Councilman Kent Pullen, was surprised to find television cameras and reporters when she came off the mountain. They wanted to talk to her.  "You go out often enough, strange things happen," she said Wednesday from her home in Kent.  Pullen goes skiing twice a week during the winter. In the summer, she takes longer climbing trips.  "I'm in the inner circle of crazy people who climb mountains," she said with a laugh.  Pullen woke up Tuesday hoping to ski at Snoqualmie Pass. But the pass had no new snow, so Pullen decided to head to Paradise on Mount Rainier.  She found an ambulance, a rescue team and reporters in the Paradise parking lot. Two climbers -- Chris McGinnis, 50, of Mukilteo, and Quang Than, 47, of Newport Beach, Calif. --had been missing since Sunday.  Rescuers didn't yet know that two other climbers -- Karen Arkin of Berkeley, Calif., and Bree Loewen of Seattle -- were also overdue.  Pullen pushed out on her telemark skis thinking for a moment she might find them out there. Near Cowlitz Rocks, the fog began to fade. The snow was new and unspoiled. But she saw fresh ski tracks up ahead, skied toward them and saw four people sitting on the rocks in the sun.  They didn't wave to her. They didn't call out.  Pullen was puzzled. There were supposed to be only two missing climbers.  "Are you the lost climbers?" she called out.  Two of them replied, "Yes." The other two said, "No."  In fact, they all were lost climbers. Pullen told them about the rescue effort.  "They almost seemed a little surprised there was so much fuss about them," she said.  She called 911 and helped coordinate the rescue effort. Pullen would go first, pressing down a path with her skis. The climbers would follow. Rescuers would begin walking up to meet them.  Everyone was safely off the mountain by 8:30 p.m. They were all in good condition. Only Arkin was treated for minor frostbite of her fingers.  Pullen has seen the other side of a mountain rescue. On a cold, sunny day in January 1997, she slipped on an ice field on Granite Mountain at Snoqualmie Pass. She slid across 400 feet of ice before her crampons caught in the ice, breaking her leg.  She couldn't move an inch. She called 911 on her cell phone. Six hours later, she was flown out in a military helicopter.  So Pullen knows how the four Rainier climbers likely feel at having rescuers called out.  "They are probably very grateful," she said, "but also embarrassed."   Quote
Dru Posted February 20, 2003 Posted February 20, 2003 "Are you the lost climbers?" she called out. Â Two of them replied, "Yes." The other two said, "No." Â I wonder which 2 said what? Â If they knew where they were, were they "lost"? Some friends of mine were in Red Rocks once and ended up doing an unplanned bivi in the back of Oak Creek. They came walking out and here's all this rescue teams heading into the canyon. Someone asked them: "Have you seen the 2 lost hikers?" "No" they replied not knowing that it was THEM the searchers were looking for. Â Semantics: they weren't LOST. Just OVERDUE. Quote
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