Posted on 12/17/2006 3:43:18 PM PST by ConservativeMan55
One climber found dead on Mt. Hood
"A law enforcement official said the "Y" thing that was spotted was just a Y shaped piece of equipment. Not a signal by the climbers."
That sounds completely wrong. Bad information floating around.
"Where in the Himilaya are you referring to?"
Nepal. Monsoon ends in October and starts again in June.
Body found inside Mt. Hood snow cave
04:02 PM PST on Sunday, December 17, 2006By kgw.com and AP Staff
HOOD RIVER, Ore. -- Teams looking for three missing climbers on Mount Hood found a body after searching a second snow cave on Sunday, an official said.
"We have found one deceased at this point," said Pete Hughes, a spokesman for the Hood River County Sheriff's Office.
He said the body had not yet been identified. The body was found in a snow cave -- but not the one that was first searched earlier on Sunday, he said.
A couple hours earlier, a sleeping bag, ice axes and rope were found in the first snow cave, said Sgt. Gerry Tiffany, spokesman for the Hood River County Sheriff's Office.
"I'm sure it is very frustrating for those guys on the mountain," Tiffany said at a news conference. "I know I was frustrated."
Tiffany said he assumed the snow cave was the one from which missing climber Kelly James made a distress call with his cell phone to relatives a week ago.
"That snow cave tells us one thing: they knew what to do and they did it," Tiffany said. "That means they can do it again."
Taking advantage of clear skies and a sharp drop in the wind, rescuers focused on the cave Sunday after a helicopter spotted a rope laid out in a Y-shape, which climbers often use to signal their location.
Footprints were also found at the first site. Tiffany said the prints appear to head up the mountain, toward the summit but are blown out by the wind at higher points.
Weather conditions have been harsh since the three were reporting missing eight days ago, with heavy snow fall and wind gusts of up to 100 mph. The snow stopped Saturday, but wind up to 50 mph blew the fresh snow, hampering visibility. Skies were blue Sunday, the wind was still, and temperatures at the 11,239-foot summit were reported near zero degrees.
Searchers dug through the first snow cave, about 300 feet below the summit, to ensure no one was there and took the equipment, which officials will examine for clues.
Tiffany said its clear that whoever stayed there "hunkered down in the snow and they survived there for a while" and that they climbed out and could have made a snow cave elsewhere.
"We're by no means ready to give up yet," he said.
When Capt. Mike Braibish, Oregon Natl Guard, was asked to speculate on a possibility by a reporter..He responded.."We are not going to speculate. We're going to deal with facts."...You tell'm (the media) Capt...Let the family members either maintain their hope of survival or grieve in peace...Think the media would have learned a lesson after the Sago Mine disaster.
Stupidity!!
I'm sure I can't "top" (he he) your mountain climbing experiences in that I didn't actually climb a singular mountain peak. But at 17 I hiked from 5000 to 9000 feet on a day-long church youth group hike in northern New Mexico. To get to a hidden waterfall that we all wanted to see, we had to climb a steep rocky cliff. We didn't need special equipment but we had to be very careful. I was bent close to the rock to reduce the sensation that I was going to fall off backwards, when a fellow hiker called out my name to tell me something. I raised up from my deep crouch, and that very second a falling rock of substantial size rolled right through the spot where my head had been a second before I raised up. If not for that person calling out my name, and my reflexive response, I actually don't think I would have made it past 17. I never did that kind of seriously challenging climbing again, though I did do some lesser poking around in wilderness-like areas.
I only go out on the developed paths here. We know a few paths that very few people get out on and have a blast. But, we rarely go more than a few miles in. I am not that found of the pain.
I am almost certain this is the climber they found.
Second Mt. Hood snow cave yields body
First holds only ice axes, rope, sleeping bagPosted: 12:40 PM, Dec. 17, 2006
Last Updated: 4:10 PM, Dec. 17, 2006By KGW.com and AP staff
HOOD RIVER -- Teams looking for three missing climbers on Mount Hood found a body after searching a second snow cave on Sunday, an official said.
"We have found one deceased at this point," said Pete Hughes, a spokesman for the Hood River County Sheriff's Office.
He said the body had not yet been identified. The body was found in a snow cave -- but not the one that was first searched earlier on Sunday, he said.
Earlier, a Chinook helicopter lowered a team of climbers to a snow cave found on the mountain, but rescuers looked inside and saw that it was empty.
Helicopters looking for three missing climbers had spotted the snow cave near the summit of Mount Hood earlier. Footprints and climbing gear were also spotted.
"The climbers go into the cave, find two ice axes, a sleeping bag, rope, but we find nobody," Hood River County Det. Sgt. Gerry Tiffany told reporters. He admitted it was disappointing to searchers but said rescuers would keep searching the area and following clues. He said it's possible they dug another snow cave in the area.
The snow cave is near the spot where one of the missing climbers placed a distress call from his cell phone a week ago, Tiffany said.
Crews searching for three climbers on Mount Hood found mountaineering gear and a snow cave in the area where one of the climbers made a distress call a week ago. The spot was about 11,000 feet up and on the north side of the 11,239-foot mountain, said Marc Smith, a deputy with the Hood River County Sheriff's Office.
An Oregon National Guard spokesman said crews reported finding the cave. Rope harnesses - commonly used in technical climbs - were among the items spotted, said Nick Przbyciel, another sheriff's employee. He cautioned pointed out that Mount Hood is one of the most popular mountains for climbers, and the gear could have been from previous climbs.
On Saturday, they reached 10,600 feet before nightfall and worsening weather forced them off the mountain. With the weather colder but clearer Sunday, they set out again from 6,000 feet, following a path they made in the snow Saturday, officials said.
"Searchers will be able to see a long way down and a long way up" because of the better visibility, said Sgt. Sean Collinson of the Clackamas County sheriff's office.
There has been no communication from Kelly James, 48, of Dallas, 37-year-old Brian Hall of Dallas, or 36-year-old Jerry "Nikko" Cooke of New York City since Dec. 10, when James used his cell phone to call his family. He told them he was sheltering in a snow cave while his companions started back down the mountain, apparently to get help for him.
The last clue to their whereabouts was a brief signal returned from James' cell phone Tuesday.
On Saturday, the cold hobbled rescue efforts as some searchers had to come down because of facial frostbite.
However, that cold was accompanied by a temporary break in weeklong stormy conditions, paving the way for the biggest push yet since the three men were reported missing on what was to have been a quick climb to the peak.
Prayers for the families.
"I'm sure I'm going to get some nasty response posts to this."
Go away.
Nasty enough?
That depends.
I love my famility more than hiking in the mountains, and I love hiking in the mountains. There are lots of choices one can make along the way to reduce risk. Obviously there was insufficient risk reduction in this climb.
Men voluntarily enter the merchant marine too and companies voluntarily send freight by sea but we still have a coast guard. Civilized people have rescue teams and equipment.
Why are we spending money to locate them? "Because they're fellow humans" rings a bell. People get caught in situations (sometimes of their own making, sometimes not), and cannot fen (sic) for themselves. We rescue them because we're a civilized people.
I hate to sound cold
It didn't sound cold. It just sounded stupid.
Are you aware of the danger of being in a traffic accident everytime you get in a car? So we should all save money on police and ambulance and EMS and leave you to fend for yourself should you ever get into an auto accident, right?
What? The probability of extreme blizzard conditions is extremely more likely in winter than summer. They chose the wrong time of year to make the climb and were fools to climb that mountain in winter.
That may be true. But because these people made a foolish stupid mistake we have a lot people risking their own lives trying to find them. Not saying we shouldn't try to find them. But there are consequences of stupid decisions which we are now witnessing.
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