You asked -- "Will they ever be found? Does enough of the snow melt in the spring to insure that their remains will eventually be visible, or is it possible they'll remain permanently frozen in a snowcave somewhere?"
Well, quite a bit of snow does melt by summer. When looking at the mountain in winter, the entire mountain is covered with snow. When looking at the mountain in summer, you can see quite a bit of ground, below Timberline Lodge (at the 6,000 foot level). So, significant amounts melt by Summer.
However, they are not climbing at levels below Timberline Lodge; they are well above that level. And there is a lot of snow, ice and glaciers up high.
So, it is entirely likely that they could remain buried for five, ten, fifty or a hundred years or more -- without being found.
Some years back, there was a "hiker/climber" in Central Oregon who disappeared. I mean, that's not unusual that someone disappeared. It has happened. With this guy, it was back around 20 or 30 years ago.
Now, the significant thing was that during a time of record melt-offs (in the Cascade Range mountains) -- he was found. So, it was sometime back in the 70s (I believe) that he was lost and a few years back that he was found. He might not have ever been found, except for that time of record snow melts.
And then, there was another search on Mt. Hood for someone who was lost. They never found the guy -- but found someone else. I don't think they were able to identify the guy they found -- and never did find the guy they were really looking for.
It's strange up in those mountains in Oregon.
Regards,
Star Traveler
I agree. Remember the "Ice Man" in the Alps? It was 4,500 years before a thaw exposed him and he was found.