Very little snow below 2500’ in that region but a ton on higher slopes. There’s a 12k peak (Adams) in that general area. Where I live we have two feet of snow, bare ground down lower in Columbia valley.
The time line in the news story is a bit odd, it would take three or four hours to get from Portland to the general area described. Gifford Pinchot NF roads at best 30-40 mph dirt logging roads.
A sad misadventure, however they were determined to get there. Even sasquatch-hunters have families who love them. Now besides their loss, the families' Christmases have been destroyed.
Perhaps these guys had watched "Mount Adams" as a Christmas movie, and became fatally inspired once the bars closed.
A team of UFO investigators find themselves fighting for survival as alien monsters hunt them on the slopes of Mount Adams.