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3 Lost on Mount Hood


cluck

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The following is from the Oregonian.

My computer will be out of cell-phone range for a while.

Conditions up here are pretty bad...

 

Authorities have identified the trio of stranded climbers as Kelly James, 48, of Dallas, Brian Hall, 37, of Dallas, and Jerry “Nikko” Cooke, 36, of Brooklyn, N.Y.

 

James was injured in the descent; Hall and Cooke left him behind in a snowcave while they descended for help.

 

Searchers this morning tracked a ping from a cell phone at 10,300 feet, authorities said. The signal was transmitted about 4:20 a.m. The call was made from where James is stranded, authorities said. The other two climbers do not have a cell phone with them.

 

Teams of searchers have taken off from Cooper Spur and Timberline to rescue the trio. As many as 20 searchers will attempt to climb to the summit, Hughes said.

 

But already heavy snow is stalling search efforts. A Sno-Cat carrying searchers who set out from Cooper Spur this morning got stuck in snow at 7,200 feet, authorities said.

 

Climbers sometimes carry mountain locator units, which send signals about their whereabouts to rescuers. But search officials said they do not believe the men had such a unit with them on their climb.

 

“We still get plenty of climbers who don’t equip themselves with them,” Hughes said. “It’s not the smart thing to do.”

 

The two who went for help took the Cooper Spur route, the same route the trio took up the mountain, search officials said. The nature of the climber's injuries was not immediately known this morning.

 

James made a phone call to his wife at one point, authorities said. Hood River County sheriff’s Deputy Pete Hughes said the call was “fairly disorganized, from someone who was in a lot of stress and basically not giving good information.”

 

The group told friends they wanted the climb to be a challenge.

 

“They wanted ice, they wanted to climb, they weren’t looking for the easy route,” Hughes said. “That is definitely what they were getting when they took the north side of the route.”

 

So far this morning, at least one search team has left for the summit, officials said. That team departed from Timberline. Another team was to leave from Cooper Spur.

 

Searchers will be making a treacherous ascent in what a Hood River sheriff’s official called hostile conditions.

 

“We have three people who are missing now,” Jerry Brown, the sheriff’s chief deputy, told The Oregonian this morning. “We will have 18 more people on the face that we will be very much concerned about keeping track of.”

 

Brown said conditions on the mountain are hostile.

 

“We don’t know what the wind conditions are at the peak at this time or really above 6,000,” he said.

 

Conditions on the mountain are poor and are expected to deteriorate as the day progresses. Visibility is so poor that an air search has not begun, though the Oregon National Guard is on standby this morning, Hughes said.

 

“The Air National Guard has a team ready to go but we cannot do it with current conditions,” he said.

 

Winds at the 10,000 elevation are up to 70 mph, he said.

Edited by barkernews
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And has been found, according to Clackamas County dispatch. It's now a continuing search for the two that headed down Cooper Spur.

 

Hope I didn't post that too soon. They gave me the number for Hood River dispatch for more info and that dispatcher had no word of anyone having been found yet. ???????

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I climbed Hood via one of DK chutes Fri am. Took a good look down at Cooper Spur from the summit (~11:30) but didn't see any climbers on the route.

 

A bit windy on top but otherwise a beautiful day. Things have definitely got a lot worse since them. Sure hope all 3 are OK.

 

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Climbers sometimes carry mountain locator units, which send signals about their whereabouts to rescuers. But search officials said they do not believe the men had such a unit with them on their climb.

 

“We still get plenty of climbers who don’t equip themselves with them,” Hughes said. “It’s not the smart thing to do.”

 

Ummm, okay . . .?

 

 

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According to KATU news, it sounds like the searchers have been called down due to weather conditions.

Forecast shows that it won't clear up until the end of week. I don't know how long these guys can hang in.

 

No word if they found any of the climbers.

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Just got down off the mountain and unfortunately all 3 are still missing. Conditions were pretty rough up there today. We started up the south side but were only able to get to 9000 feet. There was zero vis and it was snowing buckets and very windy. We were very concerned about avalanche conditions. From what I understand, the teams on the north side encountered similar conditions. The sheriff called us back around noon because of the storm that was coming (with predicted 90 mph winds at the 7000 foot level). The storm hit around 1:00 and all hell broke loose as we were descending in total whiteout conditions. Fortunately, all the searchers are down safe and sound. Unfortunately, no teams were able to make it to the summit today so James must spend another night alone up there. I sure hope he's able to hang in there.

 

DonV - I heard the information about the climbers being seen in the TJ A-frame. I assume you called the ranger station - thanks very much. That was definitely the right thing to do. The info on their route will really help us out when we can get teams up there. "Somewhere below the summit on the north side" is a very difficult place to search so any info to help us narrow it down is helpful.

 

The cell phone companies are working some magic to try and pin-point cell signals. There's some speculation that they might be able to get a bead on the 2 that went for help.

 

As far as folks who want to help out, I'm not sure if there's any way you can get formally involved in the search. In today's litigious society, I suspect the sheriff would be wary of putting "civilians" to work. But, if you do happen to be up there back-country skiing (in Considerable to High avalanche danger) be sure to keep an eye out and have a cell phone handy.

 

Here's to hoping these guys can make it through another night... :brew:

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the comment within this article about gear purchases is almost unbelievable.

 

Indeed.

 

"They had purchased a great deal of equipment at REI before going up to Mount Hood."

 

Bizarre.

Coming from Texas, it's not unreasonable that they didn't have adequite cold-weather gear. Or maybe they had to purchase a stove to replace one that the TSA confiscated on their flight? Or they wanted to buy gear in Oregon and save the sales tax?

 

Not everyone has the enlightened contempt of REI that we cc-commers cultivate.

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