Three stranded on Mt Hood

[AsheanMT]

I'm losing my optimism. If these guy were alive and up there in a cave wouldn't they have heard the heli's and come out by now. They left the body up there last night! Why didn't they bring it down for autopsy and positive id?

[ptavv]

They left the body up there last night! Why didn't they bring it down for autopsy and positive id?

By the time they found the body they had very little daylight left. Just barely enough to see if they could find any identifying items on the body (such as a wallet) and then get off the mountain.

I've got to say I'm losing my optimism as well. If those guys are out there and did not come out in the high clouds and wind of Saturday, or the calm and bluebird of Sunday, I have to wonder what is keeping them

[jon turner]

They identified the body as Kelly James, the one who had made the cell phone call.

[AsheanMT]

Kelly's brother is on katu right now and he said its his brother. This is fucking sad!

[Cono Este]

BRUTAL

RIP

[kb1dqh]

Bummer for the family positive vibes to them, hopefully the other two are found alive and well (as can be).

As far as beacons while climbing. No.
A few things about climbing:

You carry a shitton of stuff, the last thing that you need is a beacon that may be used for half a day during a week of climbing. Is better to choose your route wisely.

Often you are roped, an avy takes everyone, essentially like skiing a slope with multiple people on it. Also big mountain avies are often well, BIG, which diminishes the likelihood of someone surviving (not necessarily the case on Mt Hood though).

PLBs are far better for finding people on a rescue than beacons.


Side note: I read that they found the one guy in the snow cave, left him there for later recovery, but took his gear. Personally I would have left the gear, maybe those other two stumble back to the scene and could use/need it (unlikely, but not impossible).

Not to distract from this thread, but climbers often do take beacons. Most climbers going up the Cooper Spur route in the Winter would take them- the entire upper slope is avalanche prone.

This is a very sad story. Best of luck to the climber's families.

[GapersGoHome]

Rest in peace, all...

Nothing short of a miracle now could bring these two home...

That's what we can all hope for, though... die doing something you love, on a mountain you envy, with your friends til the end.

[TBS]

Comments from the families say that the deceased never felt closer to God as when he was on a mountain. While not religious myself, I certainly know the feeling, and am pretty sure most of those on this board understand too.

RIP Kelly James. ++++vibes for the others

[cj001f]

Not to distract from this thread, but climbers often do take beacons. Most climbers going up the Cooper Spur route in the Winter would take them- the entire upper slope is avalanche prone.

Huh? Avalanche on Cooper Spur = long fall = dead. Maybe the Mazamas would wear beacons. The main reason climbers don't take beacons - it's a body locator.

RIP and best of luck to the searchers and surviving family

[Arnold Pants]

The main reason climbers don't take beacons - it's a body locator.

Isn't that an excellent reason to where one? If you go missing on a climb, and SAR is sent out after you, aren't you putting them at more risk by making them clamber all over the place looking for your body?

If these three had beacons or Reccos, it MIGHT have facilitated their rescue, but it MIGHT also have facilitated the sad process that is going on now, which is almost certainly a body search under very dangerous conditions.

[natty dread]

Weird to see a blackhawk and a chinook and hear an unseen military jet (too high in the clouds) fly over my house a few minutes ago.

that news conference was a big bummer, the families of the guys still missing still have hope

at this point I just hope the searchers stay safe!

[Platinum Pete]

Conflicting reports online now. KATU is saying the climbers made it over the top and missed the pearly gates, then tried to descend the Elliot in the storm. Doesn't match up with their south side descent plan, or common sense for anyone with a compass, or with where the cave was supposedly found.
Hopefully this is just info overload confusion, but if they had indeed made it over to the SS, the rescuers were so so close for a bunch of days while the storms raged and kept them low. Also, if they tried to descend the Elliott they are either in a crevasse or under avy debris.

[AsheanMT]

should be a news brief in 15 min.

[tenB]

Of all the technology talked about, nobody seemed to mention satellite phones. They've come down a lot in price, and you can rent them pretty reasonably for trips. Anybody know how they work in mountain conditions?

[ptavv]

if they tried to descend the Elliott they are either in a crevasse or under avy debris.

If they tried to descent down/across Elliott they will either find the bodies in the spring or never at all.

The Elliott glacier is not a place to be during a storm in early winter. In early winter with good weather it's questionable enough.

[Jumper Bones]

Anybody know how they work in mountain conditions?

I'd imagine they work just as well as any handheld GPS....maintain a line-of-sight with the sky, and it should work fairly well.

[natty dread]

Just saw them unload what I presume is James' body from a 304th chopper into the medical examiner's truck, down on the HR waterfront.

[LAN]

Just saw them unload what I presume is James' body from a 304th chopper into the medical examiner's truck, down on the HR waterfront.

So sad. I saw his wife on the news a few nights ago saying that they were planning on going back to Rainier for their anniversary - he proposed at the summit.

[Platinum Pete]

So sad. I saw his wife on the news a few nights ago saying that they were planning on going back to Rainier for their anniversary - he proposed at the summit.

Thanks for that, like I didn't already feel sad enough about all this. Can we please get some kind of good news? I don't care if it's that one dude survived by eating his dead partner, I just want something to be optimistic about.

[0BernhardFranz]

Teams should search the glaciers fissures if they are stuck in some fissure NOW.It´s what I thought would happen them trying to descent.

[GoldMember]

I spoke to a friend a little while ago who's shooting for ABC on Hood. He's at Timberline and they are getting ready to pack it in. It appears the search will likely be called today. RIP to those guys.

[ptavv]

Another system blows in tomorrow afternoon.

This one has really occupied a lot of my mind for its duration. I just got back from lunch with some coworkers who were asking me my thoughts on it.

It's really strange how these things affect you when you're familiar with the areas they were in, as well as the dangers. People who are unfamiliar with Hood often view it as a laughable ascent, and honestly, the south side route when done in the spring is pretty easy. The rest of the mountain is incredibly harsh though.

Cooper Spur has plenty of pucker factor (see: Squirrel's TR from last spring) and some definite no fall zones. Wy'east is exposed and steep, you'll go for a long ride if you make a mistake up there. The north side is incredibly rugged with Elliot glacier being crevase riddled, the increased avalanche danger from all the wind deposits.

Really a reminder that it doesn't take that much bad luck to put you into an incredibly tight spot.

[Greydon Clark]

News reports are claiming that the injury was a dislocated shoulder. I’ve dealt with this injury on a mellow spring ski tour, but on top of a big mountain with a blizzard approaching… you could easily burn your window of safety futilely trying to get the shoulder back in socket.

I know almost nothing about first aid, would a wilderness first aid class teach you to set the shoulder so the injured person could travel? (My friend told be how to pop his shoulder, but I don’t really remember.)


Edit: “Dislocated” is not synonymous with “separated” when you’re talking about shoulders. In fact, they are different injuries. I don't know shit.

[kidwoo]

News reports are claiming that the injury was a separated shoulder. I’ve dealt with this injury on a mellow spring ski tour, but on top of a big mountain with a blizzard approaching… you could easily burn your window of safety futilely trying to get the shoulder back in socket.

I know almost nothing about first aid, would a wilderness first aid class teach you to set the shoulder so the injured person could travel? (My friend told be how to pop his shoulder, but I don’t really remember.)

What you're thinking of is a dislocated shoulder I believe.....out of socket.

A separated shoulder is tearing the muscle between your collarbone and scapula.....essentially making it a dangling limb with no support from the top. I've done both of mine this year and it's a debilitating injury for sure immediately following. The weight of your own arm is too much to bear. Down climbing using your arm would be impossible.

[ptavv]

Everything I've read said dislocated shoulder (a major distinction). A discloated shoulder would easily eat up any fudge factor they had built into their schedule. A seperated shoulder usually causes discomfort and pain, but use of the arm would be retained, and treatment can easily be postponed.

Regarding the dislocated shoulder, there's a high danger of fracturing other bones if you can even get the humerous back into its socket. Furthermore, the swelling and ligament stretching/tearing would be enough to make the arm effectively useless, even if they could get it back in the socket, which is unlikely.

Complicating matters even more is that in any sort of activity one would instictively use their other arm to cradle and position the dislocated one such that you felt a minimum amount of pain, effectively denying you the use of either arm.

That injury, while on (or near) the summit would be disasterous. All of the descent routes are steep and somewhat technical at a minimum. The downclimb through the Pearly Gates would be nearly impossible, the NF gullies, Cooper Spur, and Wy'east are all too steep to be downclimbed with minimal use of one arm.

Another thing mentioned at cascadeclimbers.com was the possibility of head trauma accompanying whatever event dislocated his shoulder. Shoulders aren't easy to dislocate, and it's not unreasonable that he was suffered some head trauma during the accident. Which would add an entirely new dimension to the situation they were faced with (a mostly incapacitated companion, rapidly souring weather, unfamiliar terrain, and a lack of long stay survival gear).