Hope is gone for 2 missing hikers in Oregon; now a recovery

[Brent]

For the first time all week the weather is cooperating and the search is underway big time right now. CNN and FNC showing live pictures. They found an apparent snow cave, footprints, equipment, and a Y signal from a helicopter. The Y signal is apparently an announcement of location.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16220398/

[brunota2003]

The snow cave was found empty...the only things inside were a couple of ice axes, a rope, and a sleeping bag...also, they found footprints leading toward the summit...

[JonathanBelles]

they also found a carved Y into the snow.

[brunota2003]

they found the body of one of the hikers in another snow cave...the family has been notified, however, they havent released who it is yet...MY thinking is that it was the guy with the injury and cell phone who was from the other snow cave...

[Brent]

Just heard that about 15 seconds ago. So sad, but not totally surprised.

[JonathanBelles]

o geez i didnt want that news.

[Tstormwatcher]

and more than likely, the other two are also dead. very sad news.

[brunota2003]

HOOD RIVER, Ore. - Teams looking for three missing climbers on Mount Hood found a body after searching a second snow cave Sunday, an official said.

The dead climber had not yet been identified, said Pete Hughes, a spokesman for the Hood River County Sheriff's Office. The body was believed to be one of the three missing climbers, authorities said.

The body was found in a snow cave — but not the one that was first searched earlier Sunday, he said.

Mt Hood had claimed 130 lives prior to todays discovery...sadly it is now to at least 131...hopefully they find the other 2 alive...but I dont think they will find them alive...if they find them at all, its possible the blizzard killed them and then buried their bodies...

[Brent]

and more than likely, the other two are also dead. very sad news.

I would agree. The fact that they found only one makes me think it was the guy who called his family on the cell phone and said he was in trouble. The other two who went for help according to him are almost certainly dead IMO and will probably be found together.

[tomboudreau]

I dont think they will find the other climbers together. There have been reports that they found footprints going up the mountain and going down the mountain. I heard them say that on CNN while I was watching it this evening.

[Stephanie]

They've been out way too long. I'm holding out hope for the other two, but I'm not surprised that they have found one of them dead already. How sad!

[TexasStooge]

Darn! I just hope the other 2 are found alive.

[tomboudreau]

they have id the first body as kelly james....he is the one that called his family to say he was in trouble. This is from CNN.com this morning. his family reported it to nbc news.

[brunota2003]

HOOD RIVER, Ore. - Two climbers missing on Mount Hood may have fallen on a steep slope on their way down Oregon's highest mountain, authorities said Monday as the search resumed on a clear day and a team prepared to retrieve the body of a third climber found dead in a snow cave.

Air crews will survey the area because avalanche conditions make it unsafe for ground crews to head through a treacherous side of the mountain known as "the gullies," where climbers have fallen in the past, said Sheriff Joe Wampler.

The body of Kelly James, 48, of Dallas was found in one of two snow caves that the climbers hacked into the side of the mountain. Searchers found the cave Sunday near the area located by signals from the cell phone James used to place a four-minute distress call to relatives a little more than a week ago.

His brother, Frank James, told reporters that a ring found on the body confirmed the identity.

"This is a difficult day for all three families," he said choking back tears. "I feel that I have two other brothers still on the mountain."

Kelly James and his two colleagues are thought to have climbed the north face of Mount Hood and reached the 11,239-foot summit late in the day of Friday, and then tried to descend the gentler south face, passing through a rock and ice formation known as "the Pearly Gates," Wampler said.

"They didn't find it," he said.

Brian Hall, 37, also of Dallas, and Jerry "Nikko" Cooke, 36, of New York City, then backtracked about 300 feet down the side they had ascended, Wampler said.

"They dug a cave that probably housed all three of them Friday night," the sheriff said. Saturday morning two of the climbers left the caves trying to descend a precipice lying between the Elliott Glacier and a ridge called Cooper Spur.

"Now the weather was getting really bad," he said.

Searchers found ropes and anchors that they believed the climbers used to cling to the side of the mountain during high winds. Gusts of up to 100 mph were reported during a storm that hit the area over the weekend that the climbers disappeared.

Authorities hope a medical examination of James' body would help in the search or explain what happened to the expedition, Wampler said.

Family members had relied on intense religious faith along with confidence that the trio's extensive mountaineering experience would save them from a week of blizzards and single-digit temperatures that hampered search teams on the mountain and in aircraft.

James had told his family that his climbing party was in trouble and that Brian Hall, 37, also of Dallas, and Jerry "Nikko" Cooke, 36, of New York City, had headed back down, apparently for help. James may have been injured.

James' mother, Lou Ann Cameron, told The Associated Press she did not want to talk about her son and referred questions to the Hood River County Sheriff's Office.

So I'm assuming all three have indeed been found and are dead?
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061218/ap_ ... g_climbers

[senorpepr]

No, it says two are missing and the third climber was found dead.

Only one found--two remain missing.

[HarlequinBoy]

Yeah, I think senorpepr has it right, but that confused me too.


Anyways, that's all very sad.

[brunota2003]

yea, now that I've read other reports from other stations and have had time to catch up, I see that...

[vbhoutex]

This is indeed a terribly tragic situation. I am still hoping the other two will be, by some miracle, found alive.

However, I have to ask a question, which I'm sure some will think is callous. I provide a caveat here that I have not followed this real closely. I cannot as a weather nerd help but ask the question why three HIGHLY EXPERIENCED climbers would even set off to climb Mount Hood when a very strong storm was moving into the region. It isn't like the storm was not predicted. Have I missed something?

As I said, I continue to pray for the safe return of the other two.

[Stephanie]

I don't understand that either David. Considering the time of the year and how the weather can turn on a dime in the mountains, I don't understand why you would even chance it.

However, I smoke and I know there's people that wonder why I do that.

I hope that the other two are found alive.

[tomboudreau]

I think they believed they could reach the summit and be off the mountain before the weather turned sour. I don't know if these 3 people had ever climbed this mountain before or not.