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TYeary
Mountain climber
Calif.
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Dec 12, 2006 - 11:06pm PT
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I wishing for the best. Having done a winter climb on the North Face above the Elliott Glacier I know what they are up against.
Jeff writes "if". Only so true. If they have dug in are playing it smart, they could be ok. If..
Tony
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Mimi
climber
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Dec 12, 2006 - 11:12pm PT
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The last report I heard tonight on the radio was from the Sheriff up there. He said that they would search through the night if possible but that if they were in a cave and didn't leave something out to mark their location, it would be very difficult to find them.
They also reported that it was supposed to snow another +18" tonight/tomorrow and snow the rest of the week.
God bless.
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Lambone
Ice climber
Ashland, Or
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Dec 12, 2006 - 11:16pm PT
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The weather is only getting worse this week. i am afraid those guys are basically on their own up there. Rescuers could walk within 50 of the climbers in a whiteout and high winds and unless screaming at the top of their lungs they'd walk right by eachother.
I think the two guys who descended will be fine once they find their way to civilization (if hey can avoid avalanches), but the guy holed up in a cave at the summit is in alot of trouble.
My opinion (which isn't nescesarily called-for or productive) is that they should have stuck together and stayed put.
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ground_up
Trad climber
mt. hood /baja
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Dec 12, 2006 - 11:42pm PT
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Hood is a serious mountain in these conditions..I am heading up to volunteer, any other P-town climbers ?
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healyje
Trad climber
Portland, Oregon
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Dec 13, 2006 - 12:00am PT
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I watch the 10 day weather pretty close this time of year as Beacon requires a day to a day-and-half to dry out before it's good to go. I got out both Thursday and Friday in pretty rough conditions and it was clearly evident that the weather was going down the tube in a big way for the long haul Friday night or Saturday at the latest. I can only guess this team must have realized their decision to go ahead and hit it on Thursday or Friday was going to be a squeak job with little or no breathing room on the backside weatherwise if anything went wrong. No judgment there, but it does show you don't want to underestimate Cascade peaks or the winter storms that can line up and roll in one after another up this way.
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Hawkeye
climber
State of Mine
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Dec 13, 2006 - 01:06am PT
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from here,
http://www.pmru.org/pressroom/headlines/hood3missingClimbers121206.html
PMR Continues Search for 3 Missing Climbers on Mt Hood
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
PMR had 13 searchers in the field and one advisor in the Government Camp search base Tuesday for the ongoing search for 3 missing climbers on Mt. Hood . Ten searchers, working in 3 teams, searched the South side of Mt. Hood. Two of these teams spent the day searching areas around Sand and Zig Zag Canyons, near and below timberline. One team encountered snowshoe tracks near Sand Canyon. Knowing that the missing climbers had rented snowshoes for their climb, the PMR teams carefully checked the tracks and concluded that they were made by people on a snowshoe trip out of the Timberline Lodge area.
One South side team headed up the mountain from Timberline Lodge to search the upper portions of the South side climbing route. This team encountered severe conditions at El. 8500' and took refuge in the top station of the Palmer ski lift to wait for the weather to improve. After waiting a couple of hours with no improvement in the weather, the team descended to help search areas in and around Sand Canyon.
A team of 3 PMR members who helped search the North side of Mt. Hood on Monday spent Monday night at Cloud Cap in at El. 6000' below Cooper Spur. They were scheduled to join the South side search on Tuesday morning but found themselves without transportation down from Cloud Cap. So they spent today searching additional areas on the North side of the mountain.
Weather forecasters predict increasingly severe weather on the mountain for the next few days. The Clackamas and Hood River County Sheriff's offices will be meeting early this evening to coordinate plans for future searching. When these plans are finalized, we will notify PMR members of any requests for our services via the normal callout system.
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unless something miraculous happens, it does not sound too good. they need everyones good vibes, thoughts and prayers, whatever you can give.
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tom woods
Gym climber
Bishop, CA
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Dec 13, 2006 - 11:56am PT
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This does not sound good. For those up on the mountain working, good luck and stay safe. The rest of, the calls for positive vibes is good advice. There's a lot of ifs.
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Lambone
Ice climber
Ashland, Or
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Dec 13, 2006 - 02:53pm PT
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It doesn't matter how many teams of rescuers there are, if this weather keeps up no one is making it to the summit for at least a few days.
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Majid_S
Mountain climber
Bay Area
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Dec 13, 2006 - 02:54pm PT
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I am in CA,I do not mine going on this call, I even know few who could come as well but we need an official request from their SAR unit .
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healyje
Trad climber
Portland, Oregon
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Dec 13, 2006 - 04:16pm PT
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Fattrad's right Majid, the conditions are brutal here in downtown PDX let alone up on the mountain as the fronts come through almost daily. And conditions up there have already repeatedly turned back all the teams. The folks doing the looking know the mountain almost by braille and many grew up there climbing it. They have it covered and have been asking PDX locals who are that interested to volunteer to get involved before someone needs rescuing. Having a bunch of well-intentioned folks, however experienced, who aren't in-tune with the mindset and rythmn of the in-place teams and operations would just get in the way and be more to worry.
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Apocalypsenow
Trad climber
Cali
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Dec 13, 2006 - 05:02pm PT
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Why would someone climb Hood in December? Just curious.
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Apocalypsenow
Trad climber
Cali
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Dec 13, 2006 - 05:56pm PT
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I hope no one is injured in the search.
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Lambone
Ice climber
Ashland, Or
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Dec 13, 2006 - 07:40pm PT
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"Why would someone climb Hood in December? Just curious."
Apoc,
The northside colouirs on Hood are typically in the best shape in Nov-December before big storms like this hit. They ice up nicely after a couple of week storms, some freeze thaw and a cold front. But as soon as the snow starts dumping (like right now) they turn into avalanche death traps.
SAR doesn't want more people on the mountain. They keep track of all rescures on the mountain via radio, and if there are two many people it just makes things a logistical nightmare.
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Hawkeye
climber
State of Mine
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Dec 13, 2006 - 08:37pm PT
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from the cc.com site, a wonderful pic from david parker (hope its ok to show)
it would appear that the climbers were attempting one of the north face gulleys. as lambone said these tend to ice up in the early winter time frame. this shot was february in a drought year. i think there is at least several feet more snow this year right now than when this pic wsa taken. at timberline on the south side at 6000 feet there is about 72" of snow.
the last cell phone blip was located on this face up high.
here is another great shot looking down, stolen from crackman
here is an example fo the climbing lower down...from shredmaximus
i hope these are ok to show borrowed from those guys.
also at 6000 feet at timberline the weather report showed winds up to 40 mph and snowing all day. The summit is about 11,253 (?).
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WBraun
climber
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Dec 13, 2006 - 10:17pm PT
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Whoa, that looks tuff to do a search in bad inclement weather. Best wishes for all those involved.
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Majid_S
Mountain climber
Bay Area
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Dec 14, 2006 - 02:50am PT
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This is Mt.Hood during similar rescue work few years back, last thing we want is another one go down with SAR guys in it.
Play it safe guys and you know who the # 1 person is in your list.
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[url=http://imageshack.us]{{img}}h~~p://img168.imageshack.us/img168/341/blkhkcrash2pl8.jpg[/img][/url]
[url=http://imageshack.us]{{img}}h~~p://img80.imageshack.us/img80/4160/blkhkcrashmo0.jpg[/img][/url]
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Hawkeye
climber
State of Mine
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Dec 14, 2006 - 03:07am PT
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majid,
good pics. the logical route for the rescuers to reach the approximate location of the injured one is right below the copter in the first pic, then through the pearly gates to the summit.
unfortunately, this is the weather coming...talkin gusts at 65 mph at less than 1000 feet elevaton. i have no idea what that translates to on hood, but it aint good...
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PORTLAND, Ore. - Powerful winds, heavy rain and possible flooding may hit the area Thursday as a major storm moves into Oregon and Washington.
KATU Meteorologist Rhonda Shelby said wind gusts could reach up to 65 mph in parts of the Willamette Valley, with the coast seeing gusts in excess of 100 mph. Hurricane-force winds are officially recognized at 74 mph.
"I can't stress enough," she said. "This is a big punch we are getting (Thursday) right in the face when it comes to weather. It could be the strongest storm we've seen this season."
About 2 inches of rain is expected in the valley and 2 to 4 inches on the coast as the cold front passes through the state. A flood watch is in effect for those areas.
The coast should begin to see those strong south winds move in about 2 p.m. They'll make their way to the valley by about 4 p.m., Shelby said.
She believes the wind could be as strong or stronger than gusts that hit the state on Nov. 12, when trees and power lines fell from gusts in the mid-40s in the valley.
The storm could also be more powerful and widespread than one that hit the Seattle area Wednesday, knocking out power to tens of thousands.
The weather system is expected pass through the area by Friday morning.
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healyje
Trad climber
Portland, Oregon
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Dec 14, 2006 - 03:48am PT
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What the pictures don't show is the chopper rolled several times before coming to rest and flung the doorman out to the end of his leash and then made repeated impressions of him in the snow under the chopper as it rolled. He miraculously survived relatively unharmed.
[url="http://www.kgw.com/sharedcontent/VideoPlayer/videoPlayer.php?vidId=77320&catId=424" target="new"]See the video here...[/url]
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Lambone
Ice climber
Ashland, Or
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Dec 14, 2006 - 01:27pm PT
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"They should recruit some of the badass Himalaya guys out of Seattle."
some of you guys just don't seem to get it...
for one, only Superman could fight 100 mile an hour winds to get to the summit of Hood right now. I don't care how bad ass you are, Nature is the ultimate badass.
Second, the first rule of rescue situations is don't put the rescuers in harms way. With all the new snow, and weather conditions, Hood is an avalance death trap right now. The Sherrif rescue commander isn't going to risk any lives sending people up in this weather.
I'm guessing no one makes it up till Saturday at the earliest. Hopefully they find someone.
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