You said -- "Has anyone thought of the possibility (I offer no opinion) that perhaps these climbers decided to make themselves "missing" and have really not been in danger on the mountain? As you can see, its a great way to get a ton of publicity for people who prior to this were not celebrities, get their 15 minutes of "fame" and maybe write a book and get some speaking opportunities."
Well, except for the fact that Mt. Hood is one of the most "climbed" mountains around in the country. I mean, "grannies" can climb it. It's a *walk* up to the top. At times, there can be a continuous line of "climbers" [hikers] and a traffic jam, going up. That' in the summer, though (and it's glaciated year round).
The fact that it is so easy is the problem. The weather can be perfect and then change in an hour to whiteout conditions. Timberline Lodge is up at the 6,000 foot level and there is a year-round ski lift that takes you on up. You can get a snowcat to take you up or you can walk.
So, with the massive numbers of people going up all the time, when you hear about a few (every year it seems) getting trapped, lost, killed, etc -- it's an extremely small percentage of the total going.
I remember a rescue helicopter going up there a few years ago and it got a bit too close to the edge of the mountain when rescuing some others (I think who fell into a crevasse). Well, the news teams were there and they caught the shot of the helicopter clipping the slope and twisting and turning and tumbling down onto the slopes, making the rescuers part of the ones needing to be rescued.
Maybe it's all "news" to the rest of the country, but in Oregon, it's something that happens quite a bit. I mean, did you read about the people who were lost somewhere in Southern Oregon. And then you have people who get washed off rocks at the beach, or a log gets lifted up in a wave and thrown at someone, and then someone else falls, when rappelling from some spires at Smith Rocks in Central Oregon, or a group goes out in a fishing boat and it tumbles in the surf and people die. And it goes on and on around the landscape in Oregon. I mean, in Oregon, people are dying in the wilderness and in the rugged and rough landscape and terrain all the time. And you don't have to go very far from your car to "be there". Sometimes it's just a one minute walk from the car.
There is a steep trail up to the top of Multnomah Falls, along I-84, just outside of Portland. I'm amazed that more people haven't fallen off the trail since it's extremely steep and many people simply can't make it for the steepness of the trail. You're inches from tumbling down the steep sides of the trail and one misstep on the trails loose rocks will do it. These are just "ordinary" people who are getting out of their cars (a few minutes ago) and are just one "misstep" from breaking bones or being killed. A big rock (the size of a school bus) fell off Multnomah Falls and smacked down where some people were viewing the falls, a few years ago.
If those Mt. Hood guys are "news" -- they may be in the rest of the country, but Oregon hears the "news" of many of these other things, all the time, around the state of Oregon.
So, really, I don't think they are any more significant than the many others and their own personal disasters that they've had at the many different spots in Oregon.
Regards,
Star Traveler
Interesting take on Oregon, Star Traveler. I remember reading some bizarre story ten years or so ago about the wife of an assistnat football coach whose team was going to the Suprer Bowl. She was hysterical that she didn't get the "righ" tickets for the Super Bowl game and the social events that accompany it. So she ran out of the car (her grown sons and daughter were in it) and stood on the Oregon coastal cliffs threatening to jump. Her grown children went over to save her, the rocks she was standing on collapsed and they all fell into the very cold ocean, where I believe two of them drowned.
That climb up Multnomah falls is a scary one. I've done it twice. I'm always amazed at the amount of people climbing that trail. People with little kids and strollers and it's very steep in places and sometimes you've gotta squish yourself off to the side and hold your breath for people to get by. Beautiful once you make it up there though!
I hope these climbers are alright. I still have hope for them.
Just because they're thrill-seekers, doesn't make them stupid.