One Climber Found Dead in Second Snow Cave on Mount Hood

FNC ^ | December 17, 2006

[Kaslin]

HOOD RIVER, Ore. — The body of one of the three climbers who have been missing for 10 days on Mount Hood was discovered in a snow cave late Sunday afternoon.

Rescuers dropped search teams near the mountain's 11,239-foot summit from a CH-47 Chinook helicopter flown by pilots who had served in Afghanistan and Iraq. The pararescue team members scaled 300 feet down the nearly vertical face of the northeastern face of the mountain to reach a snow cave that was spotted earlier in the day.

The team discovered two ice axes, some rope and a sleeping bag in the cave. The body was discovered in a second cave nearby, officials said.

There has been no word from climbers Kelly James, Brian Hall or Jerry "Nikko" Cooke since Dec. 10 when James made a distress call to family members. A cell phone tower picked up a signal from James' cell phone on Tuesday that appeared to have originated from the vicinity of the snow cave.

[Jay777]

I'm sorry...you misunderstood. I'm not asking why YOU put this in 'breaking news'...as I think it should be. I am asking why the admin "pulled" it from breaking news. If it wasn't this thread that was pulled from breaking news it was the other one that is now in front page news that is locked and pointing to this one.

I'm just confused as to the rules here now, and I've been here for more than two years. I thought I had em down. The admin confused me on this one.

[Banjoguy]

How can helicopters stay aloft at that altitude?

I think the Chinook double rotor has the capability to generate the lift necessary to compensate for the low atmos.

[Issaquahking]

On May 14th, 2005 at 7h08 (local time), a serial Ecureuil/AStar AS 350 B3 piloted by the EUROCOPTER X-test pilot Didier Delsalle, landed at 8,850 meters (29,035ft) on the top of the Mount Everest (Kingdom of Nepal).

This tremendous achievement breaks the World Record for the highest altitude landing and take-off ever, which sets an ultimate milestone in the History of Aviation.

[frankjr]

How much has been spent to find these guys (who ignored weather warnings)?

[Halls]

i said this on the other thread that got locked, but I will say this is very sad and sorry for the family of their lost loved one. I can only pray that the other two have survived, but I think they have likely all passed.

[michigander]

I'm just confused as to the rules here now,...

It's a free-for-all baby!

Don't even bother to report 'cause the powers that be will decide where you can or can't do it.

[umgud]

That gets the "awesome meter" going. I can't imagine a chopper landing at those heights.

[jgorris]

>>> The team discovered two ice axes, some rope and a sleeping bag in the cave. Not good. You never want to ditch your ice axe that high up on the mountain. The other two could've cut the rope and kept the third axe with the idea of roped glissade and a single axe to self-arrest but that is a dubious idea to my mind. Why not keep both axes?? I'd cetainly never give up my axe at that point.

[dk/coro]

Easy call..It is called crass stupidity and youthful egocentracism.

It could well be argued that the reimbursement for the rescue costs incurred by the taxpayers in this -- and similar cases should be borne by the sale of the family residences -- or whatever personal resources required in the offset.

This pathetically generated fiasco is the equivalent of a carrier aviator taking a night cat shot w/o his seat belt secure and ejection system armed.

Just because there was a flawless "shot" last night, does not mean that this one will be a piece of cake.

Sounds like a bunch of overconfident tree huggers, far too close to the program for a credible perspective, who thought they were bulletproof. The grim reaper in this case was none other than Mother Nature, following her predictable winter game plan.

My condolences to the families.

[taxesareforever]

How much has been spent to find these guys (who ignored weather warnings)?

Yeah, and how many other lives have been put at risk trying to find them?

[HairOfTheDog]

My condolences to the families.

But you want to take the homes of their widows. Rings pretty hollow.

[Issaquahking]

Before you go there... Most costs are borne out by climbing clubs and associations. Don't even start down a road you don't even know for the first 100 yards of...

The 1998 climbing season was typical in that it involved climbing deaths and several life-saving rescue missions. The policy of the National Park Service is to `make reasonable efforts to search

As a general rule, the National Park Service does not recover search and rescue costs. When individual search and rescue incidents cost more than $500, they are paid from a central account ¨2­maintained by the National Park Service. Nationally, most incidents involve the use of motor vehicles or boats, or are searches for lost hikers. These search and rescue activities cost the National Park Service approximately $3 million per year.

At Denali, the National Park Service spends about $742,000 per year on the entire mountaineering program, including rescues. This figure includes the contract for the high altitude helicopter, supplies, educational material, salaries and work done to support good sanitation practices and other resource protection work in the Alaska Range.

Just last summer the military and the Park Service spent four days and $221,818 rescuing 6 sick and injured British climbers who disregarded warnings and advice from park rangers stationed on the mountain. This rescue included what is probably the world's highest short haul helicopter rescue at 19,000 feet and entailed a very high level of risk for the rescue team. This is just one example of many rescues the Park Service conducts each year on Mt. McKinley.

[frankjr]

More than 3.

[sphinx]

On May 14th, 2005 at 7h08 (local time), a serial Ecureuil/AStar AS 350 B3 piloted by the EUROCOPTER X-test pilot Didier Delsalle, landed at 8,850 meters (29,035ft) on the top of the Mount Everest (Kingdom of Nepal).

Wow. How long will it be before you can get a tourist flight to the top?

[TruthWillWin]

So sad. Hope they find the other two alive.

[FlyVet]

why were they climbimg this time of year.

As the old saying goes, "because it's there".

Years ago, I watched a documentary on PBS in which a small group of adventurers cross-country skied many miles into the Antarctic, towing heavy sleds behind them, just so they could climb a big mountain. It looked like a miserable, hellish ordeal to me, but they relished the challenge.

Although it seems like insanity to us ordinary people, I think it's better to have people like this in the gene pool, with that hunger to push the limits, than not.

These are the same kind of people who colonized our east coast, and then pushed westward. Men and women of extraordinary backbone.

[Kaslin]

It is possible that they left the two axes and the rope I thought that they left them on purpose for the rescuers to give them some sign. However when the rescue team found the cave empty, I feared that this did not look good.

It is possible that the hiker who left the sleeping bag behind could not get back into the cave

[frankjr]

Thank God we have the Government as our Nanny.
Darwin may have been on to something.

[Issaquahking]

Pinging those that need it.

[Issaquahking]

Read # 32