Three stranded on Mt Hood

Search officials say an earlier report about the siting of two climbers failed to turn up anything. Officials say they have found no signs of the stranded climbers.

High wind and blowing snow have impeded what was to be a major search effort today. The day started off clear, but conditions deteriorated as the day progressed. About 70 searchers headed up the mountain today, some starting their treks as early as 4 a.m.

A C-130 military plane from the Nevada Army National Guard will be conducting an air search tonight. The plane flew above the summit today at 12,000 looking for signs of the men.

heres to hoping they can get out of the snow cave they were holed up in.

sure seems like the authorities and/or the oregonian are having a problem with confirmation of their information.

Shit like this normally doesn't effect me, but this one is really bothering me. I checked for updates all day at work only to come home and see the search was called off. Sucks.

I saw two Heli's and the C-130 flying around all day from Meadows. Almost doesn't seem right to be enjoying a day on the mountain with what was going on. Gave me the chills...was really hoping for better news...

VIBES.

The C-130 was bizarre to see flying today. It was often pointed in one direction and moving diagonal to the direction it was pointed because of the winds.

While the winds were somewhat tempered from what they were during last week, there was still a wicked looking amount of spindrift coming off the top.

Hopefully tomorrow brings a better weather window.

Best of luck to the searchers, families, and climbers...

Too early in the season. The Mt. Baker incident was supposed to be the only one this year, damnit.

I'm having trouble believing there's any chance for this to end well, but who knows (CNN was interviewing these guys who lasted for 17 days up there a few decades ago).

Did they just ignore the weather that was moving in when they decided to go up?

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Originally Posted by Dexter Rutecki

Did they just ignore the weather that was moving in when they decided to go up?

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Prior to the storm, when they went up, the weather was fine for the PNW in the winter. Supposedly injury resulted in them being caught in the storm.

they must have known the storm was coming. anybody else who was concerned with such things did. they were supposed to be down the day before it started, which isn't much time at all if you suffer a major injury.

reckless.

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Originally Posted by spook

they must have known the storm was coming. anybody else who was concerned with such things did. they were supposed to be down the day before it started, which isn't much time at all if you suffer a major injury.

reckless.

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They had two days to spare before the storm was supposed to roll in. That's plenty of time to get over most anything Mt Hood could throw at you. Who the fuck really plans their trip timeline around an injury bad enough to stop you in your tracks in high and steep terrain? They had an ample time cushion accordnig to forecasts.
It looks like the two non-injured climberrs left to get help for the injured and got lost just as the storm rolled infrom the West (they couldn't see it from the north side). This is not wreckless, it's a judgement call using all the info at hand at the time.

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Originally Posted by spook

they must have known the storm was coming. anybody else who was concerned with such things did. they were supposed to be down the day before it started, which isn't much time at all if you suffer a major injury.

reckless.

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Thank you, Bill O'Reilly.

If two days grace isn't enough time to go climb something, how much of a window do you need? A week? Is there a week all year when there isn't weather on Mt. Hood?

So easy to play armchair quarterback.

press conference on now. Looks like they may have found a cave, but haven't seen the climbers.... Jeese the questions from the press are ridiculuos, painful to listen too.

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Originally Posted by iceman

Thank you, Bill O'Reilly.

If two days grace isn't enough time to go climb something, how much of a window do you need? A week? Is there a week all year when there isn't weather on Mt. Hood?

So easy to play armchair quarterback.

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Thank you, iceman. Well spoken. Continuing to send positive vibes.

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Originally Posted by spook

they must have known the storm was coming. anybody else who was concerned with such things did. they were supposed to be down the day before it started, which isn't much time at all if you suffer a major injury.

reckless.

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I skied in the backcountry today. Snow is moving in today and it's going to get dark tonight. I totally should have waited for a window where there won't be any snow and the sun won't go down in case someone had a catastrophic injury. I'm so reckless.

I hope they save that guy from CNN trapped on Loveland pass.

SAR has reached the snow cave. No climbers inside, just 2 ice axes and a sleeping bag.www.katu.com

have you ever had any knowledge about ANYTHING that the press reported properly?

This seems like it's going to end up a bad scene... Hope I'm wrong, and hoping for the best.

Does anyone know exactly where the snow cave that they found was? It looked kinda like the SE shoulder but the TV shot was zoomed in to close to tell?

Shit, breaking news, one climber found dead in another snow cave. That's all the info posted right now. This doesn't look good.
RIP

http://www.katu.com/
KATU - Portland, Oregon

I guess there is still hope for the other two, but that empty snow cave with a sleeping bag dosn't look good. Thoughts and prayers to the families.

Were these guys wearing tranceievers? Also, is it common practice for climbers to wear them?

battery strength and longevity would be an issue after 10 days, depending on how long they had been left on....

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HOOD RIVER, Ore. - Teams looking for three missing climbers on Mount Hood found a body after searching a second snow cave Sunday, an official said.

The dead climber had not yet been identified, said Pete Hughes, a spokesman for the Hood River County Sheriff's Office. The body was believed to be one of the three missing climbers, authorities said.

The body was found in a snow cave — but not the one that was first searched earlier Sunday, he said

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The beacon idea is interesting, but I wonder if a RECCO reflector could be useful in an aerial search. I don't know the limits of those things, but I would bet these guys were wearing gear that contains the reflectors.

Sounds like we are very close to some bad news on this story. Survival for 10 days in those conditions would have been nearly impossible.

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Originally Posted by rideit

battery strength and longevity would be an issue after 10 days, depending on how long they had been left on....

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I dunno. I've accidentally left mine plugged in for extended periods of time without a problem. I would think that ten days should even cover it. Anybody have a definitive answer on that?

But it doesn't matter if they took it off in hypothermic dimentia.

1 body found in one of two ice caves. No identity yet. 2 ice axes and 1 sleeping bag found in other cave. says ABC.

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Originally Posted by Telefunken

I dunno. I've accidentally left mine plugged in for extended periods of time without a problem. I would think that ten days should even cover it. Anybody have a definitive answer on that?

But it doesn't matter if they took it off in hypothermic dimentia.

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Beacons tend to run longer for Grammy winners. It's a proven fact!

This is shitty. It'll be hard to enjoy myself too much up at meadows tomorrow. I had a bad feeling about this whole thing a few days ago and especially yesterday when weather cleared up and between all the helicopters and planes and searchers nothing was seen. If those guys were still alive they'd at least come out so someone could see them.

Terrible news.

When you left your beacon on, did you leave it on while outside in the cold?

Take your normal battery life, and cut it in half from the cold.

I was reading some RECCO propaganda that came with one of my ski mags recently (might have been PowMag), and they said that some resorts have RECCO transmitters mounted in helis, so they could do aerial searches. I mean after all, it's a big radar looking for your reflection from the reflector, so...yeah, that should work. Nice thing is, it's passive, doesn't need batteries that die out in the cold.

I have been talking here 500 posts and I as a general of nato seem to have orchestrated rescue efforts.My words went right to the wind.No American seems to take any notice of mountain savety.What is going on ? Is anyone gone nuts ? Was this FUN ????

http://liwa.funtigo.com link lamb expeditions

maybe read this for some glacier tips but i need 10 or 100 times that to point out all mountain dangers I could imagine - i just have no time to write a good page

my batts had maybe 1 % of normal energy after reaching Mt Blanc forget the batts take shaking and cold bs

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Originally Posted by rideit

Beacons tend to run longer for Grammy winners. It's a proven fact!

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OK, but let's assume these guys don't have a Grammy. How long will theirs run?

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Originally Posted by Cirquerider

The beacon idea is interesting, but I wonder if a RECCO reflector could be useful in an aerial search. I don't know the limits of those things, but I would bet these guys were wearing gear that contains the reflectors.

Sounds like we are very close to some bad news on this story. Survival for 10 days in those conditions would have been nearly impossible.

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I've been wondering about the avy beacon thing. They only have a few hundred feet of range - when searching with another beacon. But I would think they could mount a big ass search antenna on a helicopter and have a useful search radius. I would guess these guys had beacons if they were in one of the gullies on the north face of hood?

I do wish everyone involved positive vibes+++ It is a terrible situation for all.

I have a question about this though. The injured man was able to make a cell phone call to his family from the snow cave and T-Mobile was able to ping the cell phone a couple of times to give searchers a good idea as to the location, correct?

So, wouldn't it have been wise for the other two men to stay in the snow cave with their friend to help each other and wait for rescue workers?

It sure is not good news, but it will bring closure to at least one family. Still hope the other two are found alive, but hope diminishes each day.

Heli mounted transceivers can work, they have one at Soli, think. It is posted in the slide room. Recco can also work, if they have reflectors, but many consumer electronics will as reflect, i.e. cellphones, beacons and FSR radios. The problem is partly the weather. I haven't followed the story too closely, its too depressing, but weather and fly time has been the biggest bitch for the whole rescue op.

Lets keep hope alive with +++++++++vibes++++++++++

Seems strange that they would leave their axes in the cave, no?

What about EPIRB? Is RECCO the same sort of thing?

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Originally Posted by LAN

Seems strange that they would leave their axes in the cave, no?

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They may have left their axes if they had passed the terrain where each climber needed 2 tools, for weight saving. 2 tools are not necessary for the south side descent that they planned and would have mad perfect sense.

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Originally Posted by LAN

What about EPIRB? Is RECCO the same sort of thing?

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My understanding is that EPIRB is more of a nautical system. On land, the standard in "find me" technology (for recreationalists) is PLB - personal locator beacon.

In this situation, the PLB would have done a couple important things: 1. it would have sent an alert that the climbers needed to be found i.e. they were in trouble and activated the beacon sooner than the rescue actually started, and 2. it would have given a precise location for rescuers to focus on, which they mostly got from the cell phone.

Technology really wouldn't have done much in this case. They got stuck because of injury and weather. Right now, no one knows enough to determine the cause of injury or if it was in any way preventable on the route. The weather came in early and after their schedule was torqued by the injury.

Downer news today. I haven't been following this much, but watched about 1/2 hour or so of it on CNN.

[rant]
Man, do they seriously have their head up their own asses (CNN). They were not knowledgeable about the subject, blatantly repetitive, and not useful for any information. I don't know why there is all this demand for "instantaneous" news, but it seams like there is no effort to put out any "quality" news. I found out more info by sitting down and reading through this thread for a couple minutes.
[\end rant]

Sorry for the negativity. +++++ vibes for the families of the lost climber and the other two, and the rescuers.

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Originally Posted by EstoBum

Downer news today. I haven't been following this much, but watched about 1/2 hour or so of it on CNN.

[rant]
Man, do they seriously have their head up their own asses (CNN). [\end rant]

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I agree with you about CNN. I saw some of Larry King's interviews with rescure personel. What a moron! He was as you pointed out repetitive in his questions and quite uninformed. Incredibly poor journalism.