Note from Oregon to the Rest of the nation.

[westofyou]

http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/1165985714267120.xml&coll=7


More snow, less hope on Hood
New storms bear down, searchers come up empty, and families of 3 lost climbers send up prayers

Wednesday, December 13, 2006
STUART TOMLINSON and MARK LARABEE

GOVERNMENT CAMP -- Rescue workers continued their two-pronged search Tuesday for three climbers missing on Mount Hood, with some saying their chances of survival are dwindling while others remain optimistic.

"Hope is fading by the hour," said veteran climber and rescuer Rocky Henderson of Portland Mountain Rescue. "I think there was another accident -- that they may have gotten into a gully or canyon and fallen. If they had found the south-side route, they would have come out on a road by now."


In the wake of last weeks big story on the Kim family, and another man who was lost then found by Crater Lake I have a note for the world.

It's winter here, mountains and wilderness abounds in the 98,466 sq miles that represents the state. Only 600 of those miles is the Portland area, and 2 million of the 4 million humans in the state live in that scant 600 square miles, distributing the rest of the 2 million into the remaining 97,800 square miles.

Leaving essentially a mess of wilderness out there to tempt and fool you.

We have 36 mountains (which in case you are unaware "generally refers to rises over 2,000 feet)

The altitude of mountains means that the tops exist in higher cold layers of the atmosphere. They are consequently often subject to glaciation and erosion through frost action. In other words the winter makes it a mess of arctic conditions.

In short watch out, nature's a mean master.

[RBA]

Thanks, WestofYou,

I plan in 3 1/2 years to retire from the military and live in Oregon. That's were my wife is from. Hopefully I can get a job. Maybe I can be a rescue ranger.

[Red Leader]

As a person that respects nature a whole lot, I just don't understand the "adrenaline rush" people get from challenging it. Mother Nature can be one mean, nasty chick.

Unless of course, you're wearing these:

http://www.shopoutdoors.com/frms/kids.gif

[gm]

As a person that respects nature a whole lot, I just don't understand the "adrenaline rush" people get from challenging it. Mother Nature can be one mean, nasty chick.

Unless of course, you're wearing these:

http://www.shopoutdoors.com/frms/kids.gif

Big Foot mystery--SOLVED!

[Dom Heffner]

There must be a fascination with it because many people do it, and WOY's note was a tad more polite than mine would be.

Dear World: Stay out of the mountains in the winter. Drink a beer. Go roller skating. Speed on I-275. Ride a roller coaster. Take a road that costs you 3 extra days in travel. You know better, you really do.

We aren't coming to look for your frozen a** if you get lost.

Hugs and kisses,

Dom Heffner :)

[George Foster]

I felt sorry for The Kim family, but he had no business taking his wife, a 4 year old, and a 4 month old that deep in the mountians. What were they thinking?

[Heath]

I felt sorry for The Kim family, but he had no business taking his wife, a 4 year old, and a 4 month old that deep in the mountians. What were they thinking?

That's the problem and the cartographers of Rand McNally are going to have ask themselves the same question.

Someone didn't do their homework on that end. However, you need to check with the state also about some signage on that exit as well.

[westofyou]

signage on that exit as well.

The signage going up the hill was a marked NF 23 as in National Forest 23, not State Route, not Federal Route. Forest roads are a different beast. Definitely one should rethink a route that is a winding road through wilderness at 10:30, but the fact is one shouldn't attempt NF roads in areas they've never been in if they aren't prepared.

[RFS62]

It may not have anything to do with this situation, but I use GPS navigation every day on my job. Many times when I'm in backwoods areas the maps will show a road that doesn't exist, or hasn't been developed yet. Several times over the years I've driven on the route the computer choses, only to hit a dead end or impassable road that's marked as passable.

I have no idea if this was a factor, but even the best mapping software out there has many mistakes. And there's a much higher chance of an incorrect route in the rural areas.

[Heath]

The signage going up the hill was a marked NF 23 as in National Forest 23, not State Route, not Federal Route. Forest roads are a different beast. Definitely one should rethink a route that is a winding road through wilderness at 10:30, but the fact is one shouldn't attempt NF roads in areas they've never been in if they aren't prepared.

woy as a resident of the state, I totally agree with your way of thinking - but to an unknown tourist, seeing NF-23 as a big black line as compared to nothing else listed as a "good road", I give them the benefit of the doubt. However, one would gather, by the time one would get to the point of wilderness, you would think that turning around is the option.

In today's theory of getting there as fast as one can, NF-23 to the Kim family was an eight-lane interstate according to the Rand McNally. I'm sorry that it ended so tragic for them.

[cincyinco]

God, I'm glad I grew up in Colorado.

I felt badly for the Kim family, and i'm glad that some good came out of it, and it wasn't a total tragedy. As for the mountain climbers/hikers that are currently lost/dead/gone?

Well, I think they knew what they were getting into, and uh.. yeah.. well, you made your bed. Sleep in it.

In this day and age, if you're going to brave the elements like that, and not use every proper safety precaution - such as GPS tracking, which is so common these days its built into cellphones for 911 emergencie - well, perhaps you deserve a bit of mishap.

I don't wish ill harm on anyone, but you have to be accountable and responsible for your own actions and decisions. It seems to me, far too often, that we pass the buck - and we don't think things through well enough before proceeding with whatever it is we've decided to do.

We sue fast food because we got fat eating it, but we were the ones shoveling it down our throats. And we blame them. This is the kind of world we live in today.

WoY, if these jokers are found, alive and well - are they going to be charged for the amount of tax dollars its taken to put on a search effort? I know some states are doing this. Its one thing if you are the Kim's, and you just get lost.. its a completely different issue IMO, if you decide to go out willingly with the express intent of climbing a mountain in crap weather. There's inherently more risk w/that decision, and you accepted it, now pay the consequences.

Sorry to rant, but while I sympathize with the Kim family, I have little/no pitty for these other hickers...

[Johnny Footstool]

In this day and age, if you're going to brave the elements like that, and not use every proper safety precaution - such as GPS tracking, which is so common these days its built into cellphones for 911 emergencie - well, perhaps you deserve a bit of mishap.

There usually isn't cell service in the remote areas people like to explore. If they get lost, rescue teams contact people's cell service provider and set up dozens of temporary portable cell towers to try and locate them.

[pedro]

My new catch phrase is "there are no short cuts"

[pedro]

woy as a resident of the state, I totally agree with your way of thinking - but to an unknown tourist, seeing NF-23 as a big black line as compared to nothing else listed as a "good road", I give them the benefit of the doubt. However, one would gather, by the time one would get to the point of wilderness, you would think that turning around is the option.

In today's theory of getting there as fast as one can, NF-23 to the Kim family was an eight-lane interstate according to the Rand McNally. I'm sorry that it ended so tragic for them.

My map makes it look like a good route too. Scary. Nonetheless, I think their experience going up the road should have led them to turn around sooner than they did.

[RBA]

Wasn't the gate lock to the road cut by vandals?

[westofyou]

Wasn't the gate lock to the road cut by vandals?

They went up the forest road which is like two lane road, then they took a fork that went downhill, the fork was the road that should have been locked, and no vandals cut it. It was left unlocked because it was hard to determine that it wasn't being used at the time (late fall) so they didn't lock it. But that road was definitely not a state road or a NF road, it's a fire road and any body who has ever driven in the west on BLM land would have grasped that situation immediately.

[GIK]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061218/ap_on_re_us/missing_climbers

[westofyou]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061218/ap_on_re_us/missing_climbers



Twelve glaciers and five ridges tempt and challenge climbers from all over the world.

Climbing Season:

Mt. Hood is best climbed between May and July to avoid avalanche danger in early season and rock fall and the Bergschrund in later summer and fall.

December is not a typical climbing month on Mount Hood. The three men took on the north face rather than more popular south routes because it offers the ice and terrain to train for more difficult mountains.

[oregonred]

Great post WOY. From a national perspective it does look like Oregon is suddenly the Wild West Frontier. Well, it really is the Wild West. Impossible to have guard rails and trail signage/safeguards directing tourists across 100K square miles of rugged terrain -- like you see back East in the few rugged places that exist like Great Smoky Mtn National Park etc.

Don't forget the three guys missing off the Oregon Coast taking a catamaran from SF to Seattle.

Basically oregon is a lot like Wyoming and Montana when you get outside the Willammette Valley where 70% of the state's 3.5M people live.

[westofyou]

Now it's looking like all three have met their fate.


HOOD RIVER -- Clues to the last known location of Brian Hall and Jerry "Nikko" Cooke began to emerge Monday as searchers launched a more focused effort to find the two missing climbers on Mount Hood.

Footprints and equipment left at a hastily dug shelter indicated that after leaving to get help for injured climber Kelly James, Hall and Cooke found themselves at an area called "the gullies" above Eliot Glacier, where they would have confronted howling winds and blowing snow. If they fell while attempting to descend, they faced a steep, 2,500-foot drop, Hood County Sheriff Joe Wampler said.

[Jaycint]

Wow, for some people I guess just watching the x-games isn't good enough. Why in the world would you tempt the reaper like this:


On May 24, 2002, a 30 year old Argentine national attempted to snowboard off Mount Hood's summit along Cooper Spur ridge. He lost control after a few turns and tumbled over 2,000 feet to his death.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Hood

[westofyou]

Another storm is expected to roll in by tonight, bringing sustained winds of 50 mph and as much as a foot of snow on the mountain, according to the National Weather Service.

The sheriff said Tuesday that he hoped to send in an avalanche team to probe the snow with poles if and when conditions permit.

The county conservatively estimates it has been spending about $5,000 a day for food, fuel, lodging, personnel and overtime costs during the nine full days of the operation. The county's search and rescue budget for the year was about $14,000, Chief Deputy Jerry Brown said.


"Needless to say, we're just a wee bit in the wind on that one," he said.

Brown said he met this week with county commissioners, who are faced with finding funds to prepare for the next search and rescue operation, which could come at any time.

Wampler said he wasn't going to tell people they shouldn't climb Mount Hood in winter.


"The only thing I would say in regards to climbing the mountain this time of year (is) if you have a problem, it's really hard to get rescued," he said.

Rescuers from the U.S. Air Force Reserve's 304th Rescue Squadron who found James in his snow cave said he had a thin lightweight waterproof sack, but no sleeping bag and no warm insulated jacket.

"I think an injury threw that schedule all off and left them in a position of, 'What are we gonna do?' " Wampler said.

Notes the men left indicated they would descend Cooper Spur in an emergency.

[Roy Tucker]

Wow, for some people I guess just watching the x-games isn't good enough. Why in the world would you tempt the reaper like this:

On May 24, 2002, a 30 year old Argentine national attempted to snowboard off Mount Hood's summit along Cooper Spur ridge. He lost control after a few turns and tumbled over 2,000 feet to his death.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Hood

Thinning the herd.

[VR]

I'd be surprised that people could live 2+ weeks on the streets of Portland with the weather we've been having, let alone Hood. Freezing rain already today, 75 MPH winds last week, below freezing at 0 elevation at night the last week. I feel like I'm living in Iowa again.

It seems like they've put forth ample time and resources in a recovery attempt from the reports I'm seeing. I truly hope the 'funds' aren't an issue as hinted at below....I'd imagine the public would foot that bill in a heartbeat if asked.

[Unassisted]

Maybe the Governor there should just close the state to visitors until Memorial Day 2007?

[westofyou]

Maybe the Governor there should just close the state to visitors until Memorial Day 2007?

But it's ski season.


Hood River, Oregon (CNN) -- The effort to save two climbers still missing on Oregon's Mount Hood ended Wednesday, the search leaders glumly acknowledging that the mountain and the weather were too much to overcome.

"Incidents on the mountain are very unforgiving," said Hood River County Sheriff Joe Wampler, one of the chief coordinators of the search. "This time of year, Mount Hood is a dangerous place to be, based on the weather conditions."

"Right now we're going to let everyone go home for Christmas," he added.

[Doc. Scott]

I was shocked upon arriving back here in Cincinnati that the Mt. Hood search was national news and has been for a week or more. I had figured it was just something that the local affiliates were harping on.

Between the continuous updates on the lost climbers and the other stuff about power outages in Washington, the PNW is looking like the ice planet Hoth lately.

[Jaycint]

Interesting story, somewhat related to the general topic of this thread, apparently this guy survived for three weeks in the freezing cold in the Japanese wilderness and speculation is his body went into some kind of hibernative state:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,25689-2513435,00.html

[westofyou]

I was shocked upon arriving back here in Cincinnati that the Mt. Hood search was national news and has been for a week or more.

Check CNN much Doc?

BTW Happy B Day

[westofyou]

Here we go again

http://robots.cnn.com/2007/US/02/18/missing.climbers/index.html


MOUNT HOOD, Oregon (CNN) -- A search-and-rescue team has reached five stranded climbers in white-out conditions and began removing them from Mount Hood, officials said.

But the effort to find three other climbers who had fallen from a ledge continues.

The accident occurred at an altitude of more than 8,300 feet in the area of Illumination Saddle, said the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office, which received word of the missing climbers shortly before noon (3 p.m. ET).

None of the three climbers who fell could be seen and none were able to communicate with the other five members of the party, who were in cell-phone contact with authorities and apparently in good physical condition, said Jim Strovink, a spokesman for the sheriff's office.

"This team was well-equipped," he said, citing adequate clothing and climbing equipment and mountain locator units, which are electronic devices that enable rescuers to pinpoint a climber's location.

One heartening sign was that a locator unit belonging to one of the three missing climbers was activated after they fell, he said. "We're homing in on them at the present time," he said. "Hopefully, we'll be able to locate these people shortly."

Though the missing climbers also had cell phones, transmission on the mountain is typically spotty, he said.

The five climbers who called about their missing colleagues were found late Sunday afternoon in snow caves and rescuers began the process of getting down the mountain, Russell Gubele, command officer for Mountain Wave Search and Rescue said.

In addition to the sheriff's office, American Medical Response, Portland Mountain Rescue and Mountain Wave Communication Specialists were involved in the search.

[RedFanAlways1966]

Most states have laws that require seatbelts.
Some states have laws that require motorcycle helmets.
All states have laws that require proper seats for infants and toddlers.
All states have laws that have maximum speed limits on their roads.

It seems that these laws are there to save lives. Seems logical to most.

When are states with mountains going to have laws about climbing mountains during certain times of the year?

[westofyou]

Oregon bill would require climbers to carry beacons


SALEM, Oregon (AP) -- There's danger aplenty on Oregon's tallest peak -- including avalanches and crevasses. Some say a small electronic device can improve the odds of survival.

Several Oregon lawmakers want to require climbers to wear electronic locators above 10,000 feet on Mount Hood -- an idea mountaineers resist.

Rep. John Lim, chief sponsor, contends that three climbers who died in December might be alive had they carried the devices, which send electronic signals that can give search and rescue teams the precise location of stranded climbers.

But many climbers say that while carrying beacons is a good idea, it should be their choice -- not required.

"It's a very dangerous undertaking, but that's part of the beauty of it," Dave Sauerbrey, a leader of a climbing group, said of mountaineering.

On Sunday, three climbers who fell from a ledge at the 8,300-foot level of Mount Hood activated such a beacon, helping rescuers pinpoint their location and mount a rescue operation.

No state requires climbers to carry the devices. Lim says Oregon should be the first, especially in view of the deaths of three out-of-state climbers in December. The trio did not carry beacons, though one was able to make a distress call to his family using a cell phone.

Lim said having to carry a beacon shouldn't be that big a deal to climbers and the requirement would cut the cost of search-and-rescue operations.

"It will send a strong message to climbers -- this may save your life and spare your loved ones misery," he said.

But Rep. Scott Bruun, a climber who's been to the summit of Mount Hood a dozen times, disagrees: "This was a tragic accident that happened in an extreme sport. This is a situation the Legislature can't fix."

In the past 25 years, more than 35 climbers have died on the 11,239-foot mountain, one of the most frequently climbed mountains in the world.

Rocky Henderson of Portland Mountain Rescue said his group has taken no stand on Lim's bill, but he believes that "if you try to legislate so much safety, you lose the adventure."

Missing mountain climbers accounted for only 3.4 percent of the total number of search-and-rescue missions mounted in Oregon in 2005 -- not a disproportionate share compared with hunters, mushroom pickers or others who get lost in the wilds, Henderson said.

"The Oregon Legislature shouldn't waste time on something that's such a small problem in the overall scheme of things," he said.

But another lawmaker who's co-sponsoring the bill said the climbers "are being a little bit selfish" and the legislation would reduce the risks faced by rescuers at high altitudes.

"Those rescuers are putting their lives on the line," says Rep. Jerry Krummel. "I want to give them all the tools they need to help them save lives. This bill does that."

Charley Shimanski of the Mountain Rescue Association, which represents 100 search-and-rescue groups in the U.S. and Canada, said he worries that relying on electronic beacons could give climbers a false sense of security.

"They might think, `I've got this gizmo that tells everybody where I am, so I can take greater risks,'" Shimanski said in a phone interview from Evergreen, Colorado.

He called Lim's bill an "overreaction" to the December deaths. Even if they had locators, the climbers would have likely died because conditions were so perilous, he argued.

Since the taxpayers here have to pay for these moronic excursions, I'll just throw back my head and laugh at this guys worries.

[GAC]

Wouldn't it make common sense for climbers to carry some sort of GPS or monitoring device with a traceable signal?

[VR]

At least there is a happy ending this time.


GOVERNMENT CAMP, Ore. — Three climbers who tumbled off a ledge on Mount Hood were taken away in an ambulance after they hiked down much of the state's highest peak with their rescuers — and a dog who may have saved their lives.

"We're soaking wet and freezing," said one of two rescued women as she walked from a tracked snow vehicle to an ambulance.

One of the women, whose name was not released, was taken to a Portland hospital and being treated for a head injury, said Jim Strovink, spokesman for the Clackamas County Sheriff's Department.

"She's going to be fine," he said, noting that she had walked most of the way down the mountain.

Two others, Matty Bryant, 34, a teacher in the Portland suburb of Milwaukie, Oregon, and Kate Hanlon, 34, a teacher in the suburb of Wilsonville, Oregon, were taken to Timberline Lodge on the mountain to rejoin five other members of the climbing party, he said.

Rescuers using an electronic locating device found the three climbers and their black Labrador, Velvet, on Monday morning in the White River Canyon, where they had holed up overnight at about 7,400 feet (2,250 meters), officials said. The crew hiked with them down the east flank of the 11,239-foot (3,425-meter) mountain; on the way down, the climbers got into a tracked snow vehicle that took them to the ambulance.


"The dog probably saved their lives" by lying across them during the cold night, said Erik Brom, a member of the Portland Mountain Rescue team. He described the wind in the canyon as "hellacious."

The two women left the snow vehicle first, followed by Bryant and the dog. The three climbers boarded the ambulance, and Velvet leapt in after them.

In addition to the dog, who provided warmth and comfort, rescuers attributed the happy outcome to the climbers' use of an electronic mountain locator unit that guided searchers to their exact position.

"That's why it is a rescue, not a recovery," Lt. Nick Watt of the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office told a news conference at Timberline Lodge, a ski resort at 6,000 feet (1,830 meters). "They did everything right."

The three were in a party of eight that set out Saturday for the summit, camped on the mountain that night and began to come back down on Sunday when they ran into bad weather, officials said.

As they were descending at about 8,300 feet (2,530 meters), the three slipped off a ledge. They slid about 500 feet (150 meters) down an incline and later moved from the site of the fall, rescuers said.

In December, three climbers who did not have mountain locator units went missing on the mountain. Authorities searched for days, but were able to recover the body of only one climber, Kelly James of Dallas, who died of hypothermia. The bodies of Brian Hall of Dallas and Jerry "Nikko" Cooke of New York have not been found.

In the past 25 years, more than 35 climbers have died on Mount Hood, one of the most frequently climbed mountains in the world.

[pedro]

Man do I get sick of the coverage of this stuff on the local news though.

[remdog]

Personally, I hope that these people are billed for the cost of the rescue and, if they don't pay it, are sued for the money the state spent to rescue them. I would even go so far as to charge them with cruelty to animals for putting the dog in that kind of dangerous situation.

If people want to climb a mountain as an 'extream sport' let them accept the consequences of their actions. You screw up, you die. Simple as that. No one comes to your rescue, no one puts their life on the line to save you from your own stupidity, no one spends hundreds of thousands of dollars that are badly needed by people that suffer misfortune through no fault of their own. Bye-bye, end of story.

The smartest lifeform in that whole group, including the other five in the climbing party, was the dog. I wish that weren't so predictable.

Rem

[creek14]

I have a friend who says if you are where you should be, doing what you should be doing, chances are you'll be safe.

Seems climbing a mountian in winter is neither.

[15fan]

Wouldn't it make common sense for climbers to carry some sort of GPS or monitoring device with a traceable signal?

Charles Darwin says "hello".

The herd will thin itself. I'm totally fine with that.

And I'm with rem. Send 'em the bill. For everything.

[NYMoose]

I'm just glad the dog is ok. The climbers chose to go, he didn't have a choice.

[Chip R]

Personally, I hope that these people are billed for the cost of the rescue and, if they don't pay it, are sued for the money the state spent to rescue them. I would even go so far as to charge them with cruelty to animals for putting the dog in that kind of dangerous situation.


They are actually thinking about doing this now.

[westofyou]

They are actually thinking about doing this now.

BTW they're all locals, who picked a weekend that was packed in with rain, plus the average snowfall for the month of February on Hood is 41.53 inches.


Mount Hood, Oregon's tallest peak, is the second most climbed mountain in the world, next to Japan's Mount Fuji. An estimated 10,000 people per year register to scale the peak (though some do climb without registering). Unfortunately, Mount Hood does have a history of deaths and injuries, with over 100 killed on its slopes in the past 100 years. The peak is accessible from a short 90 minute drive from Portland and many novice climbers attempt climbs during the May and June "busy season". Though most of the climbers involved on May 30th were veteran climbers, lack of experience, along with other factors like improper training and poor equipment are common causes of mountaineering accidents.

Mount Hood has many crevassed glaciers and can be quite hazardous, despite the high volume of successful climbs each year.

[westofyou]

http://www.oregonlive.com/newsflash/index.ssf?/base/news-23/1203413043265580.xml&storylist=orlocal


Members of volunteer groups involved in the December 2006 search for three missing climbers on Mount Hood were called to a meeting in Hood River late last week.

Rocky Henderson of Portland Mountain Rescue said about 30 representatives of the primary search groups attended, along with Sheriff Joe Wampler of Hood River and Sheriff Craig Roberts of Clackamas County.

He said the meeting was pitched as a 'thank you' from a family and there was a hint that a donation might be involved.


That donation turned out to be $90,000.

"We were blown away," Henderson told The Oregonian newspaper Monday.

The money came from a private foundation in Dallas, Texas, home of Kelly James and Brian Hall. James, 48, died of hypothermia in a snow cave on the north side of the mountain, and his body was eventually airlifted from just below the summit. The bodies of Hall, 37, Jerry "Nikko" Cooke, 36, of New York City, were never found.

Wampler said most of the donated money was collected by Hall's friends during the first week of the search, ostensibly to pay for medical bills if the missing climbers were found alive.

"I've seen donations before, but nothing like this in my lifetime," Wampler said. "I mean, wow."

Dwight Hall, the father of Brian Hall, and Jerry Cooke's wife, Michaela Cooke, were at the meeting; Hall made the presentation.

"I told him this was Oregon and he didn't have to do that," Wampler said. "But he said, 'that's not me.' He wanted to make sure there is money for the next search... he was insistent."

The Hood River County Sheriff's Office received $50,000 and the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office got $23,000. Wampler said the money would be put back in the sheriff's search and rescue fund and be used to replace equipment lost or damaged during the search, and to train volunteers.

The Crag Rats and Portland Mountain Rescue both got $11,000.

"For us, it's huge," Henderson said. "It means we can hire and pay a professionally trained instructor. We've gotten money from families before, but this is very significant."

The Oregon National Guard's 1042nd Air Ambulance Company, and the U.S. Air Force Reserve's 304th Rescue Squadron split $1,000, but because they are federal agencies, the money will be put in a general party fund.

[flyer85]

I remember a comment I heard from Beck Weathers(who lost his hands and part of his face on Everest ... see the krakauer book) about how incredibly selfish his mountain climbing was and he didn't see it until the disaster happened on Everest.