Three stranded on Mt Hood

[beaterdit]

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

[SLutz]

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.

[Telefunken]

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

[rideit]

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

[H-man]

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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[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.

[Telefunken]

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

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.

[Buzzworthy]

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.

[rideit]

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.

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

[bossass]

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.

[Jumper Bones]

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.

[0BernhardFranz]

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

[Telefunken]

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

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

[Powow]

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.

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?

[Skiing_Gamer]

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?

[hutash]

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++++++++++

[LAN]

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

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

[Platinum Pete]

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

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.

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

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.

[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). 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.

[bdog]

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]

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.

[Platinum Pete]

If CNN's commentary was bad, how would you rate Fox News' suggestion that the v shaped rope thing was a ladder. "like in the Khumbu icefall on Mt Everest".

In heavier and worse news, Portland Mountain Rescue will likely not be called back to the mountain tomorrow by the Hood River Sherriff. His crews will be working the north side, which suggests body recovery for the missing 2 or hopefully some reason to believe they made it down to Cooper Spur or the Elliot Glacier and just didn't feel like coming out in todays clear and calm sunshine.

RIP

[Camel Toad]

Bummer for the family positive vibes to them, hopefully the other two are found alive and well (as can be).

As far as beacons while climbing. No.
A few things about climbing:

You carry a shitton of stuff, the last thing that you need is a beacon that may be used for half a day during a week of climbing. Is better to choose your route wisely.

Often you are roped, an avy takes everyone, essentially like skiing a slope with multiple people on it. Also big mountain avies are often well, BIG, which diminishes the likelihood of someone surviving (not necessarily the case on Mt Hood though).

PLBs are far better for finding people on a rescue than beacons.


Side note: I read that they found the one guy in the snow cave, left him there for later recovery, but took his gear. Personally I would have left the gear, maybe those other two stumble back to the scene and could use/need it (unlikely, but not impossible).

[smitchell333]

I'm going to guess that the other 2 either were caught in an avalanche during the storm or are wandering way down one of the endless gorges spilling off of Hood.

Hope they are putting significant efforts looking at treeline and below and in those gorges too.

You carry a shitton of stuff, the last thing that you need is a beacon that may be used for half a day during a week of climbing. Is better to choose your route wisely.

PLBs are far better for finding people on a rescue than beacons.

In any avy danger on exposed route you could also "use" a beacon for hours, days, or weeks at a time. Choosing your route wisely to avoid avy terrain is always a good idea, but very often its not possible to completely avoid avy terrain on bigger mountains.

PLB would certainly given a better/quicker chance in this case. Although not the case for any avy rescue.

[kidwoo]

Just ID'd

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...a070428S70.DTL

Mt. Hood Body Identified As Kelly James

[AsheanMT]

The AP is saying that the body is Kelly James but it isn't "confirmed" yet. Kelly was the injured climber and the one that made the cell call.