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Relatives of three men missing in bitter weather on Mount Hood comforted each other and held out hope Friday that the trio survived, eight days after the lightly equipped men left for a two-day ascent. Winds were expected to gust to 100 mph Friday morning in the latest of a string of storms to hit the 11,239-foot mountain, and forecasters said rescuers' next shot to find the men probably would be Saturday. Kelly James, who like Hall is from Dallas, was believed to be holed up in a snow cave near the top, and the other two were thought to...

Survivor of '76: If we made it, they can too Three teens walked out after 13 days in a snow cave on Mount Hood Friday, December 15, 2006 MARK LARABEE The Oregonian It's been almost 31 years since Randy Knapp and two high school friends emerged from their 13th night in a wet, cold snow cave on Mount Hood, where they held onto hope through prayers and struggled to survive while a snowstorm raged outside. As the years passed, Knapp, 48, a finish carpenter and part-time pastor who lives in Medford, refused requests for interviews. But Thursday, as headlines detailed...

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...

PORTLAND, Oregon (AP) -- Rescue teams headed up the flanks of Mount Hood on Monday to search for three climbers reported missing in heavy snow, the Hood River County sheriff's office said. The mother of one of the men said he had called his son on a cell phone to say he was stranded in a snow cave just below the summit of the 11,235-foot peak while his companions went for help. "From the conversation, it left us very concerned for the person's welfare," Hood River County Chief Deputy Jerry Brown said. Snow was falling heavily Monday at Timberline Lodge,...

A Tibetan nun in her mid twenties was shot dead by Chinese border patrols and at least one other Tibetan may have been killed while on their way into exile in Nepal on the Nangpa pass five days ago, according to eyewitness reports. Tibetans traveling with the nun were unable to bring her body, with evident wounds from several rounds of bullets, with them because they feared arrest before entering Nepalese territory. There are reports that up to seven more Tibetans may have been killed after the group was fired upon by Chinese armed personnel, but these could not be...

Four Russian mountaineers have gone missing in Pakistan on the world's second highest mountain, K2.

Dying Brit climber 'too big' to rescue off Everest By MICHAEL FIELD The New Zealand mountaineer who ordered climbers to leave a dying Briton near the summit of Mt Everest says it was impossible to carry the big man off the peak. Double amputee Mark Inglis was one of four New Zealanders in a group of 40 who walked past dying David Sharp during their descent of Everest on May 15. Most of them were part of a Discovery Channel film crew, which included Queenstown cameraman Mark Whetu. The crew filmed the dying British mountaineer in his last conscious moments...

Everest rescue underway for Australian Email Print Normal font Large font May 26, 2006 - 11:10AM Advertisement AdvertisementA dramatic rescue operation is underway in the hope of saving the life of an Australian climber given up for dead on Mount Everest. Lincoln Hall, 50, and one of Australia's leading climbers, was reported by a Russian expedition leader to have died on Thursday while descending from the summit of the world's highest mountain. Friends in Australia mourned Hall after Russian Alexander Abramov declared on Everest news websites that the climber's death "was verified", and was probably due to cerebral edema. However,...

Everest Pioneer Climber Blasts Group Who Left Dying ManPioneering Everest Climber Sir Edmund Hillary Blasts Dozens of Climbers Who Left Dying British Man WELLINGTON, New Zealand May 24, 2006 (AP)— Mount Everest pioneer Sir Edmund Hillary said Wednesday he was shocked that dozens of climbers left a British mountaineer to die during their own attempts on the world's tallest peak. David Sharp, 34, died apparently of oxygen deficiency while descending from the summit during a solo climb last week. More than 40 climbers are thought to have seen him as he lay dying, and almost all continued to the...

Climbers' attitude is 'horrifying', says Sir Edmund (Filed: 24/05/2006) Sir Edmund Hillary, one of the first mountaineers ever to scale Mount Everest, has expressed outrage at reports that a young Englishman was left to die on the side of the world's tallest peak. Sir Edmund: 'People just want to get to the top' David Sharp, from Guisborough, apparently died of oxygen deficiency while descending from Everest's summit last week. Several parties reported seeing Mr Sharp, who was 34, in various states of health on the day of his death. One party included the New Zealander Mark Inglis, who became the...

Mark Inglis, an amputee who conquered Mount Everest on artificial legs last week, yesterday defended his party's decision to carry on to the summit despite coming across a dying climber. As his team climbed through the "death zone," the area above 26,000 feet where the body begins to shut down, they passed David Sharp, 34, a stricken British climber who later died. His body remained on the mountain. Mr. Inglis, 47, a New Zealander, said: "At 28,000 feet it's hard to stay alive yourself. He was in a very poor condition, near death. We talked about [what to do for...

Mt. Everest Avalanche Injures Climbers Friday, May 06, 2005 KATMANDU, Nepal — Medics in a makeshift tent hospital on Mount Everest (search) on Friday treated six climbers injured in an avalanche, while rescuers hoping to evacuate the victims in helicopters were turned back by snowfall and strong wind. No one was killed by the avalanche early Thursday, which swept through the first of four camps set up between Everest's base camp and the mountain's 29,035-foot summit. Six climbers received injuries ranging from bruises to a possible broken back, reports from the mountain said. The victims' nationalities were still unclear. They...

Rangers Begin Dramatic Rescue at Yosemite BEN MARGOT /Associated Press YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, Calif. - Rangers attempted a dramatic helicopter rescue Thursday of two climbers on a snowy mountain and struggled to remove the ice-encrusted bodies of two Japanese hikers after an unexpected early blizzard swept through the Sierras. The deaths occurred on El Capitan, a 3,200-foot granite mountain at Yosemite National Park, following a fierce blizzard that stranded nearly two dozen hikers and climbers across Northern California. Other than the two deaths, all of them were found or rescued. "Oh, thank God, thank God. This is the greatest day...

Eight bodies, including those of two Israelis, have been discovered after a group of 16 climbers from around the world went missing while attempting to scale Mount Alpamayo in Peru, news sources report. The Israelis, Guy Ben-Ze'ev of Haifa and Ofira Zucker, were part of an 16-person expedition also including German, Argentinean, and Venezuelan climbers and local Peruvian guides. A representative from the Peruvian tour guide company Andean Kingdom told Channel 2 news on Tuesday that one of his guides saw the bodies and he is sure all the members of the group are dead. "One piece of ice fall...

Three Israeli mountain climbers who went missing Monday night after being caught in an avalanche on Peru's northeastern Andes Mountains were reported dead by the Australian Courier-Mail newspaper Tuesday. The three, on an 18-man expedition, were caught in the avalanche overnight Monday at 11 P.M. local time. According to local rescue services, the search for the eight was progressing slowly due to stormy weather conditions in the area. An official from the Israeli embassy in Peru told the Jerusalem Post that rescue workers had contacted several members of the expedition. According to the report, three Israeli, three German climbers as...

<p>July 15 (Bloomberg) -- A heat wave in Europe is melting Switzerland's glaciers and causing chunks of the Swiss Alps to break off, prompting the evacuation of climbers and hikers, Agence France-Presse reported.</p> <p>In southern Switzerland, helicopters ferried about 70 people from the Matterhorn after a rock face on the 3,400-meter (11,155- foot) peak crumbled, AFP said. A portion of a glacier near the Alpine resort of Grindelwald also broke away and fell into the Luetschine river, causing a surge of water downstream. Police warned people several miles away to stay away from the river, AFP cited the Swiss news agency ATS as saying.</p>

<p>TIMBERLINE LODGE, Ore. — Rescuers started up Mount Hood early Friday to retrieve the last of three climbers killed after falling into a crevasse during a climbing accident the day before.</p> <p>The mountain was closed to all climbers, and the Air Force was looking into what caused one of its rescue helicopters to crash on the mountain as it was retrieving one of the six climbers who survived.</p>