Posted on 12/15/2006 9:15:48 AM PST by george76
Relatives of three men missing in bitter weather on Mount Hood comforted each other and held out hope Friday that the trio survived, eight days after the lightly equipped men left for a two-day ascent.
Winds were expected to gust to 100 mph Friday morning in the latest of a string of storms to hit the 11,239-foot mountain, and forecasters said rescuers' next shot to find the men probably would be Saturday.
Kelly James, who like Hall is from Dallas, was believed to be holed up in a snow cave near the top, and the other two were thought to have tried to descend for help.
A signal from James' cell phone placed him between 10,000 feet and 11,000 feet Sunday when he made a four-minute distress call to his family.
"He described his condition. He was very coherent," Karen James said. "He did not sound good."
On Thursday, authorities said James' phone was on briefly as recently as Tuesday. But for more than two days the phone had not responded to engineers' signals, sent every five minutes.
In response to its "pings," T-Mobile got a return signal from James' phone early Tuesday, indicating the handset was back on, when it had been off, authorities said Thursday.
(Excerpt) Read more at examiner.com ...
It would be SOOOOOO cool after 8 DAYS to find them on Hanukkah!!
I read that people were dying from the cold winter storm at low elevations too.
"it has been a terrible Winter here in the PNW and why they'd venture onto the mountain in-between storms is any body's guess."
Mother Nature is our b1+ch, haven't you heard? We control the weather, according to Al Gore. Besides, there's a resuce center right down the mountain to take care of anybody who gets into trouble and it's free. /s
I do feel for these guys but, dang.
sorry these folks are missing BUT the searchers ARE risking their lives as a result of their assininity and if they find these folks alive- they SHOULB be fined and compensated for risking hte lives of the searchers! Just posted in the teacher sex scandal thread & the poor sissy is whining about 'having his life ruined by the experience' (or others are squaking about it?) and here people ARE actually risking their lives searching for folks in horrid conditions? I'm weighing the differences between the two cases & somehow the teacher sex scandal thing doesn't compute on the 'victimization' scale. http://sacredscoop.com
About 1.5 million homes and businesses in Washington and Oregon had no power early Friday after howling windstorms and heavy rains caused at least three deaths, closed two major bridges and sparked flooding.
One of the concourses at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport was without electricity, and an airport spokesman said some flights likely would be canceled.
The Oregon Department of Transportation closed three major highways crossing the Cascade Range because of fallen trees or downed power lines, and winds gusted past 90 mph on the Oregon coast.
The National Weather Service said rainfall was expected to be as high as 8 inches on the coast and 5 inches in the Cascade Range, with snow at higher elevations.
The Associated Press
Why in God's name are these people always unprepared???
In Arizona, most of the roads to the Grand Canyon are closed from like November - March. Why can't they close off roads and climbers need to wait until decent spring/summer weather to go climbing...
I'm so sick of this silly a$$ed crap that I'll not even comment except to say: "It is one thing to go in harm's way for a noble purpose. It is quite another to go in harm's way for no purpose at all."
I'm with you.
Apparently it's pretty damn hard to do 'em in the winter, too.
"Why in God's name are these people always unprepared???"
If they're prepared they don't need to be rescued. There are hundreds or thousands of winter ascents every year that never make the news - because they are successful.
MSNBC Reporting that a note left by the climbers has been found by the rescuers.
We are soon going to find out how good of outdoorsmen these climbers are....and then a book and movie to follow I am sure
Was this the note found inside of the rental car at the trail head giving details of their planned route ?
or a second note found elsewhere on the mountain ?
Unfortunately, it is extremely likely that they are all dead by now.
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