Posted on 12/13/2006 8:23:48 AM PST by george76
Three climbers stranded on blizzard-ravaged Mount Hood selected one of the most difficult approaches to the summit, a decision that is hampering rescue efforts.
The trio scaled the north side of the mountain, which offers a view of Mount Rainier but is treacherous, with slopes of 50 or 60 degrees and occasional sheer walls of ice.
For rescue crews, the site has been made even more forbidding by snow-laden winds rushing over the steep slopes at speeds up to 80 mph.
"Those are the strongest winds I've ever been in — knock you down, hands and knees," said Lindsay Clunes of Corvallis Mountain Rescue, one of the dozens of searchers who have been looking for the three climbers since last weekend.
Kelly James, Brian Hall and Jerry "Nikko" Cooke had planned a "quick climb" on Mount Hood, traveling light to make the ascent as fast as possible.
They had not been heard from since Sunday, when James called on his cell phone from a snow cave just below the summit. The Hood River County sheriff's office said it would mount another full effort early Wednesday.
Cooke, 36, a lawyer from New York City, and Hall, 37, a personal trainer who played for the now-defunct Dallas Rockets professional soccer team, are believed to have attempted a descent while James, 48, a landscape architect from Dallas, apparently remained near the summit.
Even if crews locate the missing climbers, bad weather may prevent them from climbing high enough to rescue them, said Deputy Pete Hughes, a sheriff's spokesman.
"The next 48 hours is not looking very good,"
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
I'm concerned only that they can stay warm (which they would in a snow cave) and hydrated. We humans can last several weeks without food.
Cascades mountaineers say the route they took is *better* in the winter than in other seasons.
Before I even read this post I was thinking, what price do you put on a life? This isn't about dollars and cents. It is about saving lives. Yes, sometimes people make bad calls. Does this mean they should die? Is the dollar worth more than a human life? I think not. It's only money. Money can be regained, a human life cannot.
I pray for their safety, but time is not on their side. It should never be a question about money. I cannot believe how callous some people can be. Or how shallow for that matter.
Let's see, investigating industrial accidents, crimes, responding to fires, catching illegal immigrants (not that there's anything wrong with being an illegal immigrant), upholding law and order. Maybe that's what they'd be doing ordinarily, but perhaps some calls are not receiving responses because of this rescue op. I don't know.
"Cascades mountaineers say the route they took is *better* in the winter than in other seasons."
Maybe so, but I guess it really didn't work out well for them either.
You're right, you don't know, but you feel better making a stink about the cost of this rescue. Search and rescue is very high on the list of stuff they should be ready willing and skilled at doing. They get skilled by doing exactly what they are doing now. On balance, there are just so many human activities we can be pissed about, mountain climbers and the cost of their occasional rescue is just not on my list.
It is not the food I am worried about. It is how much fuel they took with them, when they only planned to be gone a couple of days. They need to be able to melt the snow to drink. They need to stay hydrated. Were they prepared enough to last this many days? I am not questioning their ability, only how long they planned for. It has already been a week today, for a two day climb. I'm not sure that even climbers with their experience would plan that far ahead. They would think that they would be rescued in a few days at most. They weren't climbing Mt Everest. I'm sure they didn't even anticipate any problems on Mt. Hood.
I'm getting a bit tired of this.
The Sheriff's Dept. is not mountain rescue.
Mountain rescue is currently the Corvallis Mountain Rescue Unit, whose mission statement is: "Corvallis Mountain Rescue Unit offers assistance, without charge, for search and rescue (SAR) in difficult areas and high-angle terrain... CMRU is incorporated as a non-profit Oregon corporation recognized by the State of Oregon and the Internal Revenue Service as a 501c (3) tax-exempt, charitable organization."
The rest of your post is hokum. The Sheriff's Dept., National Guard, Special Forces SAR, are all going to be "billing" whether they're sitting at their desks or sitting at Mt. Hood. There is zero additional taxpayer expense.
I will grant you that flying a National Guard helicopter does incur gasoline charges. But the pilots are being paid regardless of whether they're watching TV or flying around Mt. Hood.
By the way, what is the "charge" for this one?
Sunday, January 29, 2006
(Updated Monday, January 30, 2006)
"In the late evening hours of Sunday night, Portland Mountain Rescue search teams joined Mount Hood Ski Patrol and other groups combing the Ski Bowl East ski area for a missing 13-year-old boy. A few hours before noon on Monday, the boy was found alive and well walking on Still Creek Road near Rhododendron, Oregon."
Giznort and his/her fans and compadres are upset because they might be paying 10 or 20 cents in taxes to effect this rescue.
They conflate the costs of the actual rescue teams (100 percent volunteers, no cost to taxpayers) with "coordinators" such as the Sheriff's Dept.'s, who are getting paid whether it's for a Mt. Hood rescue or pulling stranded cats from trees.
Breaking up a domestic dispute, pulling stranded cats from trees, investigating Little Johnnie's stolen bicycle, serving a divorce decree, etc.
These are the things they'd more likely be doing were they not on an exciting SAR "coordination" mission.
That doesn't revoke the several ignorant statements about them "challenging nature" by climbing the route in December.
Experienced Cascades mountaineers say that route is better climbed in the winter.
Agreed, and that's the only thing I'm concerned about as well.
However the ambient temps are really not too low (20s and 30s), so if in a snow cave it's possible they'd be able to get some melt off the roof and walls.
Even when it's below 0F, a snow cave can easily get into the 30s+, to the point that dripping snowmelt can become a problem.
Let's hope they're having that "problem".
All they need is to keep warm and hydrated. Food is not the issue.
Balderdash.
I just hope the guy on top of Mt. Hood is okay. Loneliness can get you, too.
This sounds very icky, but urine can keep one alive for a bit longer.
I believe I heard on the news last evening that a man or woman can stay alive without water for ten days and without food for 30 days. It's the warmth thing that's a problem. These are experienced climbers, so I imagine the snow caves are keeping them out of the extreme elements.
I think they're alive.
MSNBC Reporting that a note left by the climbers has been found by the rescuers.
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 ?
Alert said found during the accent by the rescuers just a little while ago.
Thanks.
The searchers reported a note inside the rental car last week.
Hopefully they are ok, but even experienced mountaineers make mistakes. Depending on what they took with them, it is getting late in the game now.
One of the biggest mistakes that experienced mountain climbers make is forgetting to respect the mountain. When it's time to go back down or stop and camp, the best do tht and fight the inclination to keep going up. Some of the very best have made that mistake and paid for it with their lives.
Prayers out to them.
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