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Missing Climbers


BradW

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Clackamas County's conducting a search this morning for some missing climbers on Hood. Overdue from a Wednesday climb.

 

Apparently, another party spotted them on the descent before they were reported missing.

 

Anybody know any more details like who or what route they were on?

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Turns out I know one of the climbers. I should see him tomorrow and get the story from him. Here's the article:

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After more than 24 hours on Mount Hood, stopping only for a restless nap under an emergency blanket, climbers Chris Muldoon and Sterling Merrill saw a sign that everything was going to be OK: a sawed-off tree trunk.

 

That, they knew, meant a trail maintained by the U.S. Forest Service must be near.

 

"It's one of those things -- I'd never imagined I'd be so happy to see a tree stump," said Muldoon, 26, of Northeast Portland. Like his 22-year-old friend from Hillsboro, he was chilled to the bone but uninjured from the ordeal.

Within a few hours, they emerged at the Ramona Falls trailhead, started walking down a paved Forest Service Road and encountered searchers who were part of a multiagency effort launched Thursday morning to find them.

 

Muldoon and Merrill, both experienced mountaineers, had started climbing Mount Hood from the Timberline Lodge parking lot at 5:15 a.m. Wednesday. They trekked 5,235 feet upward, reaching the summit at noon under gorgeous blue skies. After snapping some photos, they began their descent.

 

In less than 10 minutes, a storm blew in. When it lifted at about 6 p.m., they realized they didn't know where they were.

 

Each year, an estimated 10,000 people climb Mount Hood, making it one of the most summited mountains in the world. A common mistake on the descent is following the fall line -- the natural path of the terrain -- that leads climbers to the west of Timberline Lodge and into Zigzag Canyon. That's where Muldoon and Merrill found themselves.

 

But Merrill had climbed Mount Hood before -- as recently as December -- and he knew that if they walked to their left, they had a chance of hitting Timberline's ski slopes or even Mt. Hood Meadows. If not, and they kept walking, they'd encounter the Sandy River and follow it to U.S. 26.

 

They conserved food, splitting half of a peanut butter protein bar for dinner, and water, collecting glacial runoff just in case.

 

They stopped only for a 90-minute nap on a bare patch of soil in the early-morning darkness, shivering under a single emergency blanket.

Soon after they resumed walking at daylight, they spotted the stump. Then some old cross-country ski tracks. Then the trailhead, the road and a day hiker.

 

"He gave us a can of Coke, peanuts and two cookies," Muldoon said. "That made him our hero."

 

Then, finally, the friends encountered searchers.

Muldoon knows they did plenty wrong: failing to bring a GPS unit, a map, a compass or a mountain locator beacon. They also didn't register at Timberline Lodge because they didn't realize they could during any hour of the day.

 

But they did things right, too: They told friends to expect them back in Portland Wednesday evening. When they didn't show up by 10 p.m., friends found the climbers' car in the Timberline parking lot and alerted authorities at 1:30 a.m. Thursday.

 

Muldoon said their determination to keep going also helped.

 

"We refused to give in," Muldoon said. "We were out of gas, we really wanted to sit down, but we didn't. We kept going, and that's what kept us warm, and that's what got us out."

 

The climbers were also filled with gratitude to rescuers, who were up on the mountain as early as 5:30 a.m. Thursday.

 

"I mean, to take a day off to go up to the mountain and look for strangers?" Muldoon said. "That's really impressive."

Let the armchairing begin. . .

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