5 climbers missing on Hood

[ashw_justin]

No dupe here. There are always inconsistencies in media reports. There's no hotline to call for directions. PMR has performed numerous "virtual" rescues over the years by providing UTM coordinates or compass bearings. When possible, it gets uninjured climbers on the move immediately, faster than waiting for rescuers to reach them.

 

Don't get me wrong, it sounds like PMR and anyone else involved did (and will continue to do) a great and vital job. I just despise the media hype/exaggeration, and feel misled. "5 climbers missing, rescued" is not a fair description events. Sounds more like "5 climbers disoriented, walk down with verbal assistance." Honestly, this wouldn't even have made the news, except that reporters knew that Hood rescue stories are media gold after what happened last winter.

 

Or is the following correct? There are inconsistencies, yes, but then there are completely erroneous key facts, and then there is flat out dishonest reporting for the sake of greater attention. Which is the case here? (note: just ignore me if I'm wasting your time. I just hate the media--either they are incompetent, or they are dishonest, or both.)

 

The five climbers were stranded at the 9,800-foot level of Mt Hood on Saturday and were safely rescued later that night.

 

Searchers said they were able to reach the group quickly with information from a GPS that they had brought with them in case of emergency.

 

"Through the use of GPS coordinates and a mountain locator unit search efforts were swift and resulted in the rescue of the hikers quicker than anticipated. A snow cat was used to safely retrieve and transport the hikers off the mountain," said Sgt. Lee Eby, with the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office.

[MATT_B]

Glad to hear they got down OK. I really wish people would take navigation a little more seriously. Maybe it's just me but it seams like a lot of people are putting a lot of faith in their do it all GPS units. . .

 

 

 

Worked wonders in Yosemite. Slap them with the full cost of their rescue plus maybe a $5000 minimum punitive, publish a few incidents in the papers, then see how many go up there without their wands and a clue.

 

JLP

Could you explain this one? I don't think this is correct but I could be wrong.

[J_Pointer]

Numerous parties in Yosemite have been charged for their rescue - mostly for either no rainfly, no bivy sack and/or down bags on the wall. I've never seen punitive damages, but I think it's a good idea.

 

Video clips of these guys laughing off their incident and claiming to be "experts" makes me think punitive damages, in addition to rescue costs, in certain cases, such as this one, would be a very good idea.

 

JLP

 

[motomagik]

**RANT RANT RANT**

 

I climbed Leutholds on Fri night/Sat morning. We knew bad weather was coming. We left earlier then planned, we moved fast, we knew there was a short weather window, till about noon on Saturday. The weather came in exactly as it was foecasted. "surprise snowstorm?" my ass. We got to the summit at 9, saw the dark clouds and the winds coming up and said, it's time to get the hell out of dodge, glad we left early and made good time.

 

They don't need mandatory MLUs up there, they need mandatory IQ tests. They also need to charge for rescues. Maybe these jackasses will take the mountain a little more seriously. I was amazed at how many people were still trudging up the mountain at 11:00 or 12:00 on Saturday when we were on our way down, when the snow showers were starting, right on schedule.

 

Never mind the scene I had witnessed earlier, a "short rope team" of 5 people, literally, slipping and sliding down the west crater... seriously the one girl fell 5 times. If you can't walk down a snowy hill without falling on your ass the whole way, you shouldn't be allowed to climb a ladder much less a mountain.

 

In short, I'm glad I climbed Leutholds, it was a great route, because now I don't have any inclination to go up Hood ever again. It's downright embarrassing. I'm embarrassed for the rest of the climbing community who take climbing seriously and embarrassed for the rescuers who take their jobs seriously.

 

These last 3 situations on Hood were all due to the same problem, weather that was forecast way in advance that people ignored. I hope they pass legislation to charge for rescues, it's the only reasonable solution I can think of to make people take a little responsibility for themselves. Maybe if it cost 10k for the cavalry to come people will think twice about their decisions.

[ashw_justin]

They received coordinates from the rescuers for Illumination Saddle, and had their own waypoint for Timberline. Rescuers ascended to guide them down but before reaching them, they were able to walk out. Kudos to these climbers for keeping it together during their downclimb.

 

Big deal. Don't let the media whip you into a frenzy over this people. You have been misled by the media hype.

[letsroll]

Have to agree with the tone of this thread. Dumbasses. If I had been with them I would be downright embarrassed. Can't get off leutholds cause of "suprise snowstorm" and no injuries, bull. Go learn navagation!!!! PLEASE. If you can't use your GPS to get off the mountain and if you did not take enough waypoints then don't take the damn thing. MAP and COMPASS. These people are making the rest of us look bad. Oh by the way I NEVER look at the weather report prior to heading out. Glad I was unable to head out this weekend. Otherwise I would have been solo on the same route with these dumbasses. I have gone up plenty of bad situations, but I make damn sure I have a bail out plan at all times. Rumer has it that it is called THINKING AHEAD.

[jhamaker]

To paraphrase Volaire "I do not agree with what you do, but I'll defend to the death your right to do it."

 

Embarassment asside, all turned out for the best. The volunteer rescuers got a realistic training excersise, the climbers got a yr's worth of experience in one day. Had they not called in the possie when worried, and then really messed up (not unlikley in a white-out, in the dark), then It could have taken resuers days to locate the remains of the party at the bottom of the correct couloir.

[letsroll]

guess I should state this also. Glad everybody is safe. But still......

[sean_beanntan]

Motomaqik

 

"rope team" of 5 people tied 5 feet apart from each other, literally, slipping and sliding down the west crater... seriously the one girl fell 5 times"

 

Hmm, that was me. I am a guide and in case you dont recognize the short rope technique, that was it in practice. Short rope is based on the fact that the guide catches a slip or loss of balance before it becomes a fall. There is no slack or rope stretch in the sysyem to produce a dynamic force since clients are tied approx 7or 8ft apart. When short rope becomes unsuitable, the guide changes to belayed climbing, like you saw me do. The client slipped but did you notice how far they fell...the fall was arrested immediately, without the guide moving out of position.

 

I also remember asking you not to down climb directly above me. If you were to fall then you would have hit my group. There was no need for you to decend directly above us on an open slope like west crater rim.

 

Climbers on this web site know my qualifications and my climbing/guiding ability so I wont bother to list. But I have also done mountain rescue for 12 years. I am a volunteer and have never beeen paid for this work. I dont complain, our creed is mountain safety through rescue and education. Hopefully climbers of all experience will learn something from this mission that will prevent a more serious situation in the future. I do not want people to be charged for a rescue since it may stop them from asking for help when they need it.

 

The "girl" in question enlisted the expertise of a guide because she realized that the climb was outside her own personal ability which is to be applauded. She was tired but motivated and dug deep to summit. Her effort was inspiring.

[motomagik]

 

She was tired but motivated and dug deep to summit. Her effort was inspiring.

 

I'm sorry, but everyone knows that getting up is only half the battle, especially with poor weather coming in. Not being able to get yourself down without putting your team at risk is not safe.

 

I am aware of the short rope technique, I guess it is a difference of opinion.

[ECJ]

I, like every climber on this board, is very happy no one was injured....

 

That being said... let's learn from what went wrong. The details on what went wrong are sketchy... to say the least.

 

Question: Did this team knowingly decide to take this odd route???

 

Question: Did they just end up over in this canyon by accident and then decide... Hey... let's take this route?

 

I can't figure out why new climbers would knowingly decide to take a "more" difficult route the first time????

 

Question: I was actually climbing Mt. Hood at the same time this team was. I encountered no poor visibility, exceptionally clear skies and unusually warm temperatures. In other words, the entire Saturday morning was "ideal." This team became lost during these conditions???? Somthing funny here....

 

Question: I have never seen so many climbers on Mt. Hood as there were Saturday morning. I'm estimating 200. I checked out early back at Timberline and the stack of climber registrations was at least 3" thick with multiple team members on each form. In other words, the mountain was a'glow with clearly visible headlamps all the way to the top. Why didn't they see this.

 

IMHO... from all that I have read about this topic (ie. news reports/message boards).... These guys must have been hypothermic.

 

Climbing weather as ideal as Saturday morning was seems to fool a lot of new climbers. Some take their jackets off because they start sweating and don't realize the wind is stealing the heat/energy away from them at a faster rate than they can make it.

 

Anyway... there's my two cents....

 

[sean_beanntan]

Motomaqik, this is not the thread to debate climbing techniques, so apologies to all the other readers. I am a member of the American Mountain Guides Association, AMGA. It is their technique and some research will show you the list of amazing climbers/guides that are part of this organization . Your email also seesm to imply that the team was at risk which I clearly resent. My job as a guide is to manage risk, reduce it to an acceptable level for my clients and create/maintain control. Any uncertainty came from climbers outside of my rope team.

 

To answer ECJ questions, the climbers were trying to climb Luetholds and could not find the correct entrance gully. If you leave the Reid glacier too early, you start climbing the Reid Headwall which is more difficult. The weather on Saturday did produce cloud and rain and snow late in the am/pm so that visibility did decrease for the climbers. To access the Reid, you cross onto the west side of the mountain away from all the light on the southside. In fact you cant see the southside route once you are on Luetholds. That said there were other groups climbing Luetholds that morning that may have thier own lights.

 

[billbob]

Having been caught in Hood SS white-out conditions 5 times over the past 5 months, about 75% of my trips up there, was wondering if a sign should be posted at the registration area stating that a high probability of white-out conditions exists during the winter-spring period. People might heed such a warning. There currently is posted some information describing how to descend by compass but it only relates to having an initial position at Crater Rock. People obviously underestimate weather conditions on Hood. I know I did and was damn happy that I knew how to use my GPS. Were these guys really experienced climbers as per the news reports?

 

[ryland_moore]

Motomagik, of anyone on this thread, you seem like the one most at fault or creating 'risk' up there. If someone asks that you not climb directly above them in the fall line and you do it anyway, then you are putting someone else at risk. You didn't fall, but you could have. On Denali, while descending the fixed lines, we asked a group of Germans to not get on the fixed lines until we were off of them. Did they listen? No. And one German fell and took out my partner with a jab of a crampon to my climbing partner's thigh. If not for anchors and fixed lines, the ride would have been longer than 40 ft. sliding with full packs, axes, crampons on steep blue ice.

 

It is easy to think you are better or more skilled than others, especially when you see a guy with tennis shoes and jeans on picking his way through the Pearly gates, but that is also a time to not only worry about others and their position, but also about how you could be responsible for causing an accident.

 

The accident on Hood several years ago shows this. All of the climbers that day had some to a lot of climbing experience. They fell, did not pay close attention to protecting themselves and those around them and three people died. If the upper party had set protection, if the lower parties had not climbed up directly in the fall line of the upper party, etc. then the whole accident could have been prevented. Don't be so cocky as to assume you are exempt from an incident. it happens when you least expect it. protect yourself and don't put others in a situation that makes them feel uncomfortable (which you were guilty of). Making some snide comment as you did about some newbie being only 1/2 way on the summit, is a way for you to direct critizism away from your actions and make it look like it was someone else who didn't know what they were doing up there. I guarantee that Sean is way more qualified than you to assess what is best for the client and that climber's abilities. The fact that you did not initially recognize short-rope technique in your original post makes me question yours.

[letsroll]

Billbob. Just finished reading the Oregonian story on this. The climbing party was not very experienced. One member had tried to summit hood several times before but had yet to succeed. As for posting that white-outs might happen. Come on. This is mountain cimbing. Yes the navigation points to get back to timberline are from crater rock but how hard is it to get from illumination to the top of palmer??? Not hard. It is not like they were dropped off at illumination via helecopter. They did hike from palmer to illumination. Maybe it is just me but I took note the FIRST time I went up there that is was a long ass slightly uphill travers to get to illumination. With map and compass I would be able to get back to plamer. Best bet would be to aim for the middle of plamer so you don't miss it. I have used this very simple and basic way to get to timberline from illumination in a white-out myself. If you have a very basic understanding of any navigation or even common sence. Heck, do a traverse to crater rock from illumination and use the nav SS nav directions to get back to timberline.

[letsroll]

It is every where, in every guide book, on every piece of gear you buy.

 

"Climbing is an inherently dangerous activity."

[icedancer1]

... let's learn from what went wrong. The details on what went wrong are sketchy... to say the least.

 

The climbers started out in the correct couloir. Anyone who has been up around the hourglass knows that a right turn there leads into more difficult terrain. If there has to be a common route-finding error in Leuthold's, this is probably it. In good weather, climbers get through it. In poor weather, they often get stuck. The Oregonian today (which still contains many errors) has a quote from the climbers that "we took some wrong turns." They tried to find an exit once off-route, which many climbers do before calling it off. Not finding one, they descended the left side of the Reid into a whiteout and became disoriented.

 

With weather coming in, the decision to turn around could have been made earlier. Maybe hindsight 20/20. Errors in navigation, mountain familiarity, underestimating weather still hold. I don't think they blindly stumbled into the couloir. It's a reasonable objective and should be more intermediate than jumping on the Reid or Sandy HW. Still, there were at least 4 other parties ascending the same route so it's hard to say how they took a wrong turn.

 

was wondering if a sign should be posted at the registration area stating that a high probability of white-out conditions exists during the winter-spring period.

 

I suggest starting a new thread on this and including constructive requests. This area is planned for an update soon and comments will be taken. UTM coordinates, compass bearings, etc.

 

except that reporters knew that Hood rescue stories are media gold after what happened last winter.

 

Agreed that Mt Hood is receiving an unbalanced amount of media attention lately. That said, if the search/rescue is relatively short and uneventful, as this one was, the media reporting does not last long enough to get the facts straight. If we don't want the media swarming, then we accept some errors.

[eldiente]

Motomagik, of anyone on this thread, you seem like the one most at fault or creating 'risk' up there. If someone asks that you not climb directly above them in the fall line and you do it anyway, then you are putting someone else at risk. You didn't fall, but you could have.

 

Wow, this is funny. I was up there on Saturday and saw these questionable guided groups up there. I was thinking that I've never seen a a true accident in the mountains before but I was going to witness one right there. These groups ( I saw at least 3 or 4) were literally falling down the mountain and had it not been for the guide holding the break they all would have perished. This scares me silly. A large group of people tied together rolling down the mountain is a major hazard. Talk about making the people around you feel unsafe. If your going to be falling, place some pro, pleasssssse.

 

With a zoo like Hood there is no way your going to be able to not climb under/or over other people on the South side. One person falling solo is going have less of a chance of snagging another party on the way down than large party of roped climbers tied together. That's funny you mention that famous accident where a roped team fell. I've always thought it was a shame they were all tied together. Maybe if they hadn't used a rope, two of them would still be alive? Of course it would be hard to charge a client big $$$ if you told them they were going to responsible for their own safety and would need to know how to self-arresst.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ivan]

oh wait!

[sean_beanntan]

eldiente, when you say falling down the mountain, exactly how many feet did the group fall. "Had it not been for the guide"....thats redundant. They would not have been there without the guide so your point?. If you noticed, I changed to a belayed lower after a discussion with my client. West Crater is not the Pearly gates, there is plenty of room to decend. How many people were long roping this w/e without placing pickets? Do you seriously think that the rope would help a fall on the steep icy sections with so much slack and stretch.

 

Anyway, If someone wants to start another tread, I can write some more. On the "famous incident" that you wrote about, I was first rescuer on scene. I was also first on scene last year when 3 climbers fell above the shrund. I am very realistic when it comes to climbing on the hill and the level of control that is needed.

 

 

[Alpinfox]

I think that there should be a mandatory skill set evaluation given to each and every person who decides to climb that damn mountain. They could post a ranger at the top of palmer. If you fail the test, back down to the parking lot you go..

You suck.

 

Trust me, I don't actually advocate that they do this.

Then why did you write it dumbshit?

I agree W/Frikadeller,

 

Its only Mt. Hood that has the f'ed up reputation!!!

Make people pass a test or have a talk w/ an ranger first before being allowed to climb. I climbed it a couple of years ago in the fall. I wouldn't mind a going through a screening process 'if' I climbed it again.

 

Yup. You suck too.

 

 

But - they ought to start fining these idiots.

Oh My! Another dumbshit.

[ClimbingPanther]

People getting in to trouble is a statistical inevitability on that mountain. I don't advocate for too much regulation though. I wouldn't mind seeing a free permit system put in place that limits the number of climbers on each day to a reasonably safe number. I find it odd that the most popular mountain in the US has no crowd control whatsoever. It seems that the sheer concentration of people can often be a problem in and of itself. Can you imagine the Rainier DC without a limit?

[eteam]

I immediately got cranky when this came on the news. Calling for a rescue because of a whiteout? Unexpected storm? Had a GPS and couldn't figure out how to use it? Unbelievable.

 

Anyone know these guys?:

 

Brian Anderson, 24, Portland

Ben Elkind, 22, Portland

Bryce Benge, 29, Lake Oswego

Jeremiah West, 28, Portland

Brian Weihs, 39, Hillsboro

 

Yup, I know some of these guys. One of them is my son, Ben Elkind. I have to admit they made some errors, and at the same time they made some good moves.

 

I'm pretty amazed at how quickly you guys on this forum act like pompous *sses (pardon my french). It's as if none of you guys have *ever* made a mistake in your lives ! And the comments you guys throw out on this forum end up splattered all over the 'net.

 

See http://blog.oregonlive.com/breakingnews/2007/05/popular_online_climbing_forum.html

 

So, here's the story: They had (mostly) the right gear, but they failed to load a topo map in their GPS (lesson #1), and they failed to store their waypoints (lesson #2), they overestimated the abilities of their climbing buddies (lesson #3, or maybe *risk* #1), and they should have turned back sooner (they would have avoided the bad weather) (lesson #4).

 

They lost the trail to the summit, and retried a couple of times, and in the process over-stayed (GPS waypoints would have helped). On the way down they hit the storm. They knew where they were (GPS), but not where they needed to go. A phone call from PMR gave them a heading/coordinates, and they made it down.

 

PMR offered them two options: go to Illumination Saddle and wait a couple of hours for the snow cat to arrive, or hunker down for the night in a snow cave. The climbing party correctly decided to hike down rather than risk the overnight stay or a couple of hours of exposure in bad weather waiting for a snow cat.

 

As you might imagine, this was a "training" climb. Ben hit REI the next morning to buy a proper GPS, vowing that this lesson (waypoints and topo map saved in GPS are your friend) would not have to be re-learned.

 

All in all, they could have done better, and they could have done much worse.

 

And by the way, they also learned that Cingular cell phone works *much* better than Verizon on Mt. Hood. (i.e. if you only bring a Verizon cell phone on the climb, you haven't brought a cell phone at all).

 

- Bob Elkind (Ben's dad)

[dinomyte]

This one's bound to get a ton of replies.

 

My comments....

 

I just bought a GPS last week and tested it in the hills on Saturday. Worked like a charm with no topo loaded. My topo was in my pocket, where i like to keep it until I need it.

 

I may be misunderstanding the post, but I wouldn't be navigating to the summit with waypoints, but they've helped on the way out. I try to get as good a route map/description as I can (from books, this site, etc.) and if I find myself somewhere that I don't recognize or am not comfortable with, I turn my ass around. I also set a drop-dead turn around time.

 

I've had a GPS less than a week, and I learned to set waypoints first thing.

 

I also never go to the hills without knowing the skills of my partners.

 

That said, I'm glad to hear that all is well and that lessons were learned.

 

We should note the "TraditionalMountaineering" theme and try to learn from these, rather than point fingers.

[olyclimber]

Glad to hear everyone got down fine and that lessons were learned. I have had to learn my share of things the hard way...thankfully none with climbing (yet).