Posted on 12/18/2006 8:47:53 AM PST by george76
What did the mother say? I missed that article.
Thanks!
It sounds like they all stayed in the first snow cave overnight on Friday night. Probably because of the weather or it was getting too dark to decend over the south side of the summit as they had planned. On Saturday two climbers hiked away from the first cave along the summit ridge. The second cave was like an impromptu shelter, as though the weather got bad on them so they tried to shelter themselves quickly. It sounds like they were trying to find their decent route but couldn't, so they sheltered themselves and clipped themselves in. So, it's like the two climbers (one of them James?) got stuck and hampered by the weather while trying to descend. I hope that makes sense.
It's been a deadly fall on the Pacific Coast due to all that "global warming" we've had since October.
Hood is 11 thousand plus feet. Many bigger mountains are over 14 thousand just in the continental US.
One problem is the winter storms that roll in from the ocean.
Another issue is the route : there are easy and harder ones.
IFAIR, the south/south-eastern side is pretty easy climbing if one traverses the slope. The north and north-western side is serious technical climbing.
What obviously makes Hood a good winter technical climb is that the challenge is very great, but highly accessible, and has a relatively "easy" walk-off exit (enter north-side, exit south-side).
This makes for a very real high-mountain experience which one can accomplish in a long weekend, rather than the weeks involved in a true "back-country" trip, making it a perfect place to practice for larger expeditions, and a mecca for "day-climbers" that want the experience, but can't commit the time and money needed for a big trip.
-Bruce
and the time of year is a big factor too. Think of Mt. Fuji which 90 year old men climb in the summer, and practically no one attempts in the winter.
Thanks for your summary of the press conference.
Not the same. At all.
Not really a fair comparison. Hunting can put food on the table. Mountain climbing is just for fun.
AA, your summary surmises that James was one of the two who hiked away from the first cave. It leaves out the puzzle piece of the cell phone call he made to his family, in which he told them that he was staying behind in a snow cave because of his condition, while the other two left to try getting back down the mountain to get help.
James was found in the second, not the well built, cave/shelter. TV talking heads have speculated that James could have for some reason, maybe even irrational reason, left the well-built snow cave and tried to do something on his own when the other two didn't return and no other help came. Maybe by then his body was losing it and so was his mind, and he would not have survived even if staying put, we don't know.
But it seems clear that he did move his location. They said the second spot was approximately on a parallel horizontal line with the first...not much up or down from it, and not too far. They also said the body was literally frozen solid.
Roger that!
Send them a bill for helicopters and search parties who risked their own lives for this foolishness.
These three families have become very close. Hopefully they can see each other through their grief, along with the many prayers being sent their way. My heart just aches for them.
I wonder if the second cave was not a cave but a grave? Could he have been buried there by the others?
Hood is definitely challenging and dangerous, especially in winter. However, it is worth noting that Mt. Hood is attempted by something like 10,000 climbers per year, whereas Everest is attempted by maybe a few hundred per year. So, the odds of dying on Mt. Everest are considerably greater than on Mt. Hood.
Basically, she addressed Mt. Hood in the second person the way someone on TV whose loved one was being held for ransom would address a kidnapper - "Mt. Hood, you have no right to hold my son! . . . give my son back to me, Mt. Hood! . . . " -it was very sad, she had clearly lost it.
And yet the cameras kept rolling.
I think that if climbers want to risk their lives for the thrill - they could at least show some consideration and wear GPS trackers so that the rescuers and/or recovery people can find them quickly and easily. I really hate to see the poor unselfish rescue folks wasteing their holidays and the holidays of their families just because someone wanted the thrill of a climb and planned poorly. GPS would make rescue/recovery much simpler and less time consuming. It would show consideration for us small unimportant folks and the taxpayers.
I think that their families know where they are hunting and that it is relatively easy to check on a hunter. Many who hunt in a blind or stands let someone know exactly where they will be just in case of a problem. It's called CONSIDERATION. Climbers need to be more considerate and wear GPS.
Well put. My 2-cents: the cost of this rescue/recovery mission must be astronomical by now. I haven't been watching much on the news, but I saw a clip this morning where rescuers were boarding one of those large 2-rotor helicopters. I was wondering how many thousands of dollars a minute it took to operate that thing.
I haven't been able to find the specific comments he made in the call, but someone on another thread characterized them as muddled. One wonders whether he really had his wits about him when he made that call.
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