Autopsy shows Mt. Hood climber not injured after all

kgw.com ^ | 12/20/06 | kwg.com and AP Staff

[randita]

This seems strange. If James wasn't injured, why did the team split up? Wouldn't they have fared better staying together, esp. with limited resources? Isn't the best chance of survival everyone staying together?

Perhaps he was just way too exhausted to continue and the others knew they had to get out of there.

Still strange.

[goodnesswins]

Hypothermia does weird things to people....maybe he refused or could not physically move....

[JennysCool]

The consensus on the main thread about this is that James may have been the last one left after his friends fell or met with some other misadventure. In other words, it makes more sense the other way around.

[crazyhorse691]

Autopsy results Wednesday showed that Mt. Hood climber Kelly James was not injured as previously thought.

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Well, that just removes one of the more logical reasons for the split up. Speculation will have to include hypothermia induced mistakes from now on. What did possess the team to split up after digging a snow cave for one and later building a snow cave for 2?

[GOP Poet]

It is all hypothetical, but my gut instinct all along (after reading the time line and about the sort of odd things he said when he spoke to his wife) was that Kelly was much further along in hypothermia then we thought previously. Also, I wonder why did he wait so-o long to call her. He did not call her until 3:45 the next day and by this time he was in a bit of a mindless wander and unreality from the hypothermia. It is all a bit strange.

They never used the cell phone earlier. Not wise, but as I said we will never know. They may have fallen very quickly into a state of hypothermia that hindered their better thinking.

God bless their families in their healing and bless the souls of these three men. I I am wondering if what you say is true. This struck me as well or maybe all three were in a stage of hypothermia that impacted much of their thinking. But we will never know. It does seem very odd that they would split up and even dangerous for them to leave him on the mountain, if there was nothing incapacitating him.

[GOP Poet]

The consensus on the main thread about this is that James may have been the last one left after his friends fell or met with some other misadventure. In other words, it makes more sense the other way around.

Definately something to think about! I am more and more curious of the complete transcript of what he told his wife. There seems something missing in a way. Like the fact that he never told her what the problem was. Although he may have and it was just never reported. The other issue is that by the time he called her he was already deeply hypothermic. Why a snow cave for two though? That would go against this thought.

[mylife]

Either James was the first one to die or the last.

[Old_Mil]

The consensus on the main thread about this is that James may have been the last one left after his friends fell or met with some other misadventure. In other words, it makes more sense the other way around.

Unlikely - he called and told his family that his two companions had set off for help going down the mountain. So at the time they split up, all three were alive. It's possible that James may not have had the energy left to attempt the descent, or perhaps he thought that given the weather a descent was too risky.

[randita]

The consensus on the main thread about this is that James may have been the last one left after his friends fell or met with some other misadventure. In other words, it makes more sense the other way around.

That has been speculated, but the consensus of Sheriff Wampler and the rescuers who were actually at the scene is that James was left behind (because of some incapacitation, orig. thought to be an injury) and the others went on and an accident to them ensued. Their view comes from the examination of actual evidence, like pictures from James's camera, footprints, gear, etc.--stuff that the public doesn't have the details about yet.

[JennysCool]

That was the earlier scenario. It seems during the call he said one of his friends was in a plane, and the other was "in town"; it's just conjecture, but the possibility is that he had seen his friends' demise and, in shock and under the effects of hypothermia, made those bizarre statements.

[mylife]

he called and told his family that his two companions had set off for help going down the mountain.

I was unaware of that. I havent been following this story closely

[randita]

Phone call story:

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/121606dnmetclimbers.11dd082b.html

[JennysCool]

May well be.

The main thread has lots of good info, as well as speculation. Here's a link to some of the later posts:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1755244/posts?q=1&&page=251

[JasonC]

He was 48, they were in their 30s and one of them was a fitness instructor. Very likely, he was in no shape physically to continue. They gave him such shelter and supplies as they could and went out in conditions nobody has any business being out in, and predictably failed. Most likely simple exposure (aka hypothermia) themselves.

If you don't have shelter and dry clothes and a fire, the cold will simply kill you in a matter of hours.

[GOP Poet]

On Dec. 10, climber Kelly James used his cell phone to call his family and report the party was in trouble and that his two companions had gone downhill for help.

I had read that he told her that "Cooke was on a plane and Brian had gone to the town for help", this somewhat suggests that he was already mentally hypothermic. I wonder why this article leaves this out or altogether mentions that Kelly said his friends went for help. I'll try to find where I had read this quote about the plane and town, but it was a local Mt. Hood or NW paper. I'll see.

[JasonC]

"if there was nothing incapacitating him"

Clearly, hypothermia was incapacitating him. People looking for other causes just don't understand that exposure will flat out kill you with no need for any assist from anything else.

[mylife]

I suppose it s moot point now.

I was only thinking we cant really know who got more delusional first.

I hope the familys find some peace

[goodnesswins]

Especially if the winds are 100+ MPH....

[GOP Poet]

Thank you for the link.

[GOP Poet]

good point.