Some People Never Learn

[Jenny_Jackson]

Crews resume search for Mount Hood climbers
Rescuers set out at daybreak to find three who fell from snowy ledge

GOVERNMENT CAMP, Ore. - Rescuers who camped out on Mount Hood set out at daybreak Monday to try to reach three climbers who fell from a snowy ledge and were huddled in sleeping bags and cuddled with a dog amid ferocious winds and blowing snow.

“They are on the move,” Russell Gubele, coordinating communications for the rescue operation, said of the rescuers.

Other rescue teams from the ground were also on the way to the site, which is believed to be around the 8,300-foot level on the 11,239-foot mountain. The rescuers, about 30 in all, were hoping to beat a snow storm expected later in the day.

The three climbers, two women and a man, fell on Sunday. They are believed to be good shape.

'Extremely treacherous'

Rescuers reached the general area where the three climbers had found shelter behind rocks earlier Monday, but they decided to wait until daybreak because they couldn’t see anything, Gubele said, and “it’s extremely treacherous up where they are. One false step could be not good.”

Battling winds up to 70 mph and blowing snow, rescue teams had worked through the night trying to locate the climbers.

The three who fell were part of an eight-person party that set out on Saturday, camped on the mountain that night, and then began to come back down on Sunday when they ran into bad weather, officials said.

As they were descending, the three slipped off a ledge. Someone in the party placed an emergency call to authorities.

The sheriff said the group was thought to be well equipped and have GPS capabilities, cell phones, mountain locator units and adequate climbing essentials.

Rescue officials were in frequent cell phone contact with the three who had fallen.

The three had gotten into their sleeping bags to stay warm.

“They also have a Labrador dog with them that is cuddled up with them to help them keep warm,” Gubele told AP Broadcast News. “My understanding is that they are experienced rock climbers, but not necessarily experienced in mountain climbing.”

'Danger of exposure'

Still, officials were worried.

“There’s always danger of exposure on Mount Hood,” Gubele said.

At least one of the three had a mountain locator unit, which emits signals used to find missing or stranded climbers. Rescuers were using the signals to try to locate their precise position.

“They’re wet, shivering and cold,” said Jim Strovink, a spokesman for the Clackamas County Sheriff’s office. “Hopefully we’ll be able to home right in on their exact location.”

Sgt. Sean Collinson, a spokesman for the Clackamas County Sheriff’s office, said the two women appeared to have suffered some bumps and bruises and their male companion is in good condition. He said all three “were in fairly good spirits when we talked to them on the phone.”

The drama began shortly before noon Sunday, when someone in an eight-person climbing party called emergency dispatchers to say three of the climbers had fallen about 100 feet off a cliff.

Battling snow and high winds, a team of rescue mountaineers scrambled up the mountain to search. The other members of the party were told to dig a snow cave and wait for help.

Authorities said the climbers’ electronic locator device helped rescuers find them. One of the devices was activated after the fall, authorities said.

Five climbers rescued

The five rescued climbers were taken down to Timberline Lodge, a ski resort at the 6,000-foot level of Mount Hood, and all are reported in good condition, the sheriff’s office said in an e-mail.

At a news conference at the lodge, one of the rescued climbers, Trevor Liston, of Portland, said he was optimistic for companions still on the mountain: “So far, they’re doing pretty good up there from what we’ve heard.”

Liston said he saw the three fall but didn’t say how it happened. The names of the other climbers have not been released.

The mountain can be treacherous, particularly in the winter. In December, search teams scoured Mount Hood for days in the hopes of finding a group of missing climbers alive. The bodies of Brian Hall, of Dallas, and Jerry “Nikko” Cooke, of New York, have not been found. Another climber in their group, Kelly James, of Dallas, died of hypothermia.

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.

© 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Having climbed Mt. Hood a number of times, I know exactly where these idiots are - near the top of the Palmer Glacier, about 3 miles from the lodge. There is something very like a hiking path from the lodge, up one side of the Palmer Glacier then on to the top because of the number of people who make the climb. It's about a 6 hour walk to the top and another 5 hours coming down. At least these idiots were smart enough to climb the west face, not the north face like the last fools.

The problem is, you climb that mountain in May and June or October and November. The summer is trecherous because nothing is stable - everthing is melting and shifting. The winter is a constant white-out blizzerd. Always been that way, always will be that way.

Why in the world are these people climbing in mid-winter, especially when the weather reports have been calling for miserable conditions on the mountian for weeks?

"Hey! Let's go kill ourselves on Mt. Hood. Then we can endanger the rescue crews from Timberline and maybe kill a few of them too."

 

[lipsofanangel]

I'm a big chicken so you'd never find me even attempting to climb Mt. Hood, or any other mountain for that matter. Especially not in the winter. Hell even *I* know that!

 

[rgraham666]

Some people just can't understand that they're neither immortal or invulnerable.

 

[Pure]

jenny, i'm impressed! climbed mt. whitney? mt evans?

 

[MagicaPractica]

They wanted to be Darwin Award nominees?

 

[Jenny_Jackson]

jenny, i'm impressed! climbed mt. whitney? mt evans?

No. Just the Hood and St. Helens. They're both only about 50 miles from here.

This is Hood from Washington Park just up the road from me...

http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l27/Jenny_Jackson/FromWAPark.jpg

 

[Misty_Morning]

I was kinda thinking the same thing last night when I saw the report about these folks. Since I don't "do" mountain climbing I wasn't gonna say anything and look more idiotic than the folks on the mt.

Now I do like to go hinking in the hills or little mountains like the Smokies in Western NC or Eastern TN. Unfortunately I hav't done that in a few years and Hiking in Florida is kinda boring...there are no hills. In fact I guess I would call hiking in Florida ....walking.

 

[Jenny_Jackson]

I was kinda thinking the same thing last night when I saw the report about these folks. Since I don't "do" mountain climbing I wasn't gonna say anything and look more idiotic than the folks on the mt.

Now I do like to go hinking in the hills or little mountains like the Smokies in Western NC or Eastern TN. Unfortunately I hav't done that in a few years and Hiking in Florida is kinda boring...there are no hills. In fact I guess I would call hiking in Florida ....walking.

There were two interesting lines in that story. First, these people were "experienced rock climbers." Yeah? So? What's that got to do with climbing about the 6000 foot level? I gather this means these people are U of O students who have climbed Smith Rock

Second they took their bloody dog with them. These people were totally unprepared for this climb. Just for the record, the last thing I want to do next time I climb Mt Hood is step in dog poo <shaking head>

 

[SimonBrooke]

I was kinda thinking the same thing last night when I saw the report about these folks. Since I don't "do" mountain climbing I wasn't gonna say anything and look more idiotic than the folks on the mt.

Now I do like to go hinking in the hills or little mountains like the Smokies in Western NC or Eastern TN. Unfortunately I hav't done that in a few years and Hiking in Florida is kinda boring...there are no hills. In fact I guess I would call hiking in Florida ....walking.

I think the right to take potentially lethal risks is a basic human right. But I don't think there's a right to be rescued, and I don't think there's any sort of moral duty on anyone to put their own lives at risk trying to rescue people who have gone out and done something for fun, knowing it to be risky.

 

[Guest]

There were two interesting lines in that story. First, these people were "experienced rock climbers." Yeah? So? What's that got to do with climbing about the 6000 foot level? I gather this means these people are U of O students who have climbed Smith Rock

Second they took their bloody dog with them. These people were totally unprepared for this climb. Just for the record, the last thing I want to do next time I climb Mt Hood is step in dog poo <shaking head>

They'd better rescue the dog, too.

They will, won't they? Is that something that the rescuers can handle?

 

[Liar]

First, these people were "experienced rock climbers."

...

Second they took their bloody dog with them.

There's yer counter evidence right there, wouldn't you say? Jeez.

 

[Jenny_Jackson]

They'd better rescue the dog, too.

They will, won't they? Is that something that the rescuers can handle?

They are bringing the dog down too, Sarahh.

The real problem I have with this is WE have to pay for the mountain rescue teams. The entire team is a dozen people, but when someone is lost up there, they drag in two dozen more to help. Sometimes they even have the national guard up there.

These idiots were lost about 200 years above the top of the Timberline ski run. They could have walked for 15 mins and taken the ski lift down

 

[Munachi]

No. Just the Hood and St. Helens. They're both only about 50 miles from here.

This is Hood from Washington Park just up the road from me...

http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l27/Jenny_Jackson/FromWAPark.jpg

*jealous of anyone who lives near mountains*

the highest mountain in berlin is a whole 115 metres high. i did climb it, but somehow it's not the same...

 

[3113]

Just the Hood and St. Helens.

You butch woman you!

 

[Jenny_Jackson]

You butch woman you!

Butch? Because I climb mountians, hunt, fish and river raft whitewater?

 

[mckai777]

Butch? Because I climb mountians, hunt, fish and river raft whitewater?

Dyke!

 

[SeaCat]

Having climbed a pebble or two, not to mention having done some outright stupid things that were more fun than you can imagine, when I heard about this I had to shake my head.

If you are willing to risk your life and the lives of your friends by being as unprepared as these people seem to have been then you should also be willing to risk being on your own.

Several years ago my father and I were Peak Walking in the Presidentials. It was the middle of January but we were prepared for almost anything. Both of us carried almost one hundred pounds of gear and dragged a lot more. It was cold, bitterly cold. When we turned on the radio for our daily check in we were informed to be on the look out for a group of climbers that were lost in our area. They were found by a rescue team the next day. One had died and the other three were in the hospital for quite some time.

Their equipment? Heavy city clothing including leather coats. Between the four of them they had one day pack with a bit of extra water. No extra food, clothing or shelter of any kind. None of them had any experience in the woods other than day hikes. They hadn't even bothered to check the local weather conditions.

When the survivors were rescued they didn't thank the rescue team, instead that wanted to sue because the teams hadn't found them before they had been injured.

Cat

 

[Jenny_Jackson]

Dyke!

Hey...I'm an outdoor kinda girl. Okay?