Posted on 12/18/2006 2:53:04 PM PST by Westlander
HOOD RIVER, Ore. - Two climbers still missing on Mount Hood may have been swept to their deaths over a treacherous cliff by howling winds of more than 100 mph after they left their possibly injured companion behind in a snow cave to get help.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Because it's there.
1. As preparation for a more difficult mountain that will have wintry conditions even in summer. Everest, for example.
2. Because it can actually be more dangerous to climb some mountains in the summer, as the snow becomes unstable, rocks get loose, etc.
I'm not a climber, but I'll guess that being safe and warm just isn't adventurous enough for some folks.
Less risk of heat stroke.
they were actually looking for Natalie Holloway's real killer.
Yes, it is embarrassing to have to be rescued. It is worse to be dead.
i hate to sound hard-hearted, but when you climb in december when the season is june to september, you kinda get what you paid for.
My God, WHY don't they carry flares?????
This question is no different than the more generic, "Why climb at all?".
Frankly I couldn't care less either way, my concern is, why should we spend millions of dollars and risk the lives of hundreds of people for the benefit of risk takers that refuse to buy a radio locator beacon before their trip?
Before you jump all over me, I don't want to stop rescue missions, and I understand it's good training for the military, and that most others are volunteers, however I think it is a little inconsiderate for risk takers to not equip themselves properly when they know what kind of rescue effort well intentioned Americans can mount...
They were helping me look for the real killers
You really don't know that to be true. These were very advanced mountaineers. It appears their friend was in big trouble and they took on risks to attempt to save his life.
Flares are not the best signaling device. The easiest, most effective device for being spotted in the day time is a mirror. At night use a strobe light. Both are cheap and you don't burn yourself trying to light them.
I think on my next mountain climbing expedition I'm going to bring a gps device, a cell phone, spare batteries for both, and a flare.
Weight.
Afraid they may not be found until the spring melts some snow or they may never be found.
I agree. I was listening to the press conference earlier and the guy speaking said that when the one of them got hurt or couldn't go on, they all built a snow cave and the two left the one behind to go and get help. IMO, if they should have thought long and hard about the conditions of the weather and stayed in the snow cave all 3 together and IMO, likely would have all lived.
You have to think logically and leaving one of the party to go and get help when clearly the whether was so horrible it would have been best to say would have been smarter. But what do I know?!
IMO a lot of the rescue effort is training for the Air National Guard and our equipment. For example, the plane flying over to look for signs of heat... they had someone dig a cave and go into it to see at what depth the equipment detects body heat.. won't give the information out to the public for security reasons, but it was one of the things going on during the rescue.
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Some clairvoyant A-H posted this on Wikipedia: Takes all kinds I guess.
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