Search and rescue on Mount Hood for two climbers missing 11 days

BaliBabyDoc

Lifer
Jan 20, 2001
10,737
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CNN

Obviously, it's a sad story and all should hope for a good outcome but . . . WHY in this day and age . . . would you climb a mountain without a satellite phone or some other device that could be tracked by GPS?

I'm not 'blaming the victims'. I'm just asking if anyone short of sherpa-skills has any business on a mountain in late fall without a backup plan, a backup backup plan, a backup backup backup plan, etc.

Fortunately, these guys had good gear but it's hard to believe they took only one phone.
 

Lemon law

Lifer
Nov 6, 2005
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Its my understanding that they were experienced--but really got hit by bad weather. Even if they could be tracked by GPS---the weather was so bad that would not help---but I believe they dug two snow caves---and then got impatient and left that relative safety---and one has been found dead with two still missing last I heard.

But their big mistake was not checking weather forcasts---and ma nature hit them hard.
 

BaliBabyDoc

Lifer
Jan 20, 2001
10,737
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If they could be tracked by GPS, they would have been less likely to leave the first snow cave AND a rescue attempt might have come much earlier.

You get a few more allowances for being 'experienced' but how many experienced climbers wouldn't check a weather forecast before setting off?

 

DealMonkey

Lifer
Nov 25, 2001
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There must be some sort of 'beacon' that operates on GPS that extreme adventurers could take along. I don't know for sure, but I'd imagine. Anyway, I subjected myself to some O'Reilley Factor a few days ago (I'm a glutton for punishment) wherein he was ranting about how his tax dollars shouldn't go to saving these sort of "wreckless adventurers" who are simply behaving stupidly, etc. I'm sure you could imagine how the rest went...
 

piasabird

Lifer
Feb 6, 2002
17,168
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How come the idiots did not stay at the Ranger Station???

I am tired of seeing this stupid topic.

If they climb a mountain then we should just say who cares if they die. They are doing something dangerous, so we should just let stupid people die.
 

shira

Diamond Member
Jan 12, 2005
9,500
6
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Originally posted by: piasabird
If they climb a mountain then we should just say who cares if they die. They are doing something dangerous, so we should just let stupid people die.
There are all sorts of risky things people do. Usually, everything turns out okay. But occasionally not. In those cases, should we just let the people die?



 

Jaskalas

Lifer
Jun 23, 2004
34,004
8,039
136
Around 43 people are murdered in America every day, it is merely for the ?entertainment? value that we would focus on 3 who go missing for 11 days and counting.

With that said, I do hope the other 2 make it, but considering that Mountain had hurricane force winds and sub zero temperatures my expectations are realistically low.
 

theMan

Diamond Member
Mar 17, 2005
4,386
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What about the hundreds that die in car accidents every day? huh? nobody care about them! :|

:beer: + car = :)
 

Vic

Elite Member
Jun 12, 2001
50,422
14,336
136
I'm a native Portlander. I've lived in Mt. Hood's shadow for much of my life, and I've climbed and skiied it. My most sincere sympathies to the family, but I am "blaming the victims." I don't care how experienced and well-equipped you are, you don't climb Hood this time of year, and especially not with the storms we've had this year. The #1 rule in mountain climbing is that "you go with the weather." They broke that in about the worst way possible.
 

ProfJohn

Lifer
Jul 28, 2006
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Originally posted by: Vic
I'm a native Portlander. I've lived in Mt. Hood's shadow for much of my life, and I've climbed and skiied it. My most sincere sympathies to the family, but I am "blaming the victims." I don't care how experienced and well-equipped you are, you don't climb Hood this time of year, and especially not with the storms we've had this year. The #1 rule in mountain climbing is that "you go with the weather." They broke that in about the worst way possible.
I agree, who the hell goes Mountain climbing in December?? If you wana climb a mountain this time of year fly to Hawaii.
 

Jadow

Diamond Member
Feb 12, 2003
5,962
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Originally posted by: International Machine Consortium
Basically? Fvck them. Idiots. They deserve it. *shrug
My only regret is that others are risking their lives to save them.
Fvcking idiots.

True Dat.

One of them had a hot wife who is now BACK ON THE MARKET

BTW, there is breaking news, the 2 guys HAVE BEEN FOUND

 
D

Deleted member 4644

You can buy GPS tracking beacons that are accurate to a few dozen feet. Anyone who goes up a mountain without one is pretty stupid in my opinion. They cost about $600.
 

DBL

Platinum Member
Mar 23, 2001
2,637
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Originally posted by: Vic
I'm a native Portlander. I've lived in Mt. Hood's shadow for much of my life, and I've climbed and skiied it. My most sincere sympathies to the family, but I am "blaming the victims." I don't care how experienced and well-equipped you are, you don't climb Hood this time of year, and especially not with the storms we've had this year. The #1 rule in mountain climbing is that "you go with the weather." They broke that in about the worst way possible.

Spend some time reading this thread. It's pretty interesting if you can sift through the chaff. Apparently, a lot more experienced climbers would disagree with you.

Text

 

Genx87

Lifer
Apr 8, 2002
41,091
513
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Originally posted by: DBL
Originally posted by: Vic
I'm a native Portlander. I've lived in Mt. Hood's shadow for much of my life, and I've climbed and skiied it. My most sincere sympathies to the family, but I am "blaming the victims." I don't care how experienced and well-equipped you are, you don't climb Hood this time of year, and especially not with the storms we've had this year. The #1 rule in mountain climbing is that "you go with the weather." They broke that in about the worst way possible.

Spend some time reading this thread. It's pretty interesting if you can sift through the chaff. Apparently, a lot more experienced climbers would disagree with you.

Text

I guess, except these three yahoos are dead on the side of a mountain. Who has the better advice?

/shrug
 

DBL

Platinum Member
Mar 23, 2001
2,637
0
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Originally posted by: Genx87
Originally posted by: DBL
Originally posted by: Vic
I'm a native Portlander. I've lived in Mt. Hood's shadow for much of my life, and I've climbed and skiied it. My most sincere sympathies to the family, but I am "blaming the victims." I don't care how experienced and well-equipped you are, you don't climb Hood this time of year, and especially not with the storms we've had this year. The #1 rule in mountain climbing is that "you go with the weather." They broke that in about the worst way possible.

Spend some time reading this thread. It's pretty interesting if you can sift through the chaff. Apparently, a lot more experienced climbers would disagree with you.

Text

I guess, except these three yahoos are dead on the side of a mountain. Who has the better advice?

/shrug

Sure. It's a dangerous sport. There are going to be accidents. However, I thought it was interesting that people who know better than you or I pointed out that snow and ice are not necessarily a bad thing when it comes to climbing and that their particular trip was within the normal season. Obviously, they intended to be back down before the storm hit. Due to some unfortuante set of circumstances (likely multiple accidents of some sort) they were not able to make it back down in time.
 

Vic

Elite Member
Jun 12, 2001
50,422
14,336
136
Originally posted by: DBL
Spend some time reading this thread. It's pretty interesting if you can sift through the chaff. Apparently, a lot more experienced climbers would disagree with you.

Text
Mountain climbers are always the friendliest of people. Plus, they have a vested interest in putting a good light on this -- it might have been them.
 

1EZduzit

Lifer
Feb 4, 2002
11,833
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The best laid plans of mice and men sometimes go awry.

If you play with fire you might get burned.

yadda, yadda, yadda.

If the rescuers don't get lucky and find one of the remaining missing climbers alive we'll never know exactly how they got caught. Unless one of them got sick or injured it appears to me they didn't use the best judgment. I'm not a mountain climber, but living in the desolate plains of South Dakota, I know how dangerous blizzards can be and you don't want to trust anything to luck when you know there may be a chance of being in one.
 

Fern

Elite Member
Sep 30, 2003
26,907
173
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Originally posted by: Vic
I'm a native Portlander. I've lived in Mt. Hood's shadow for much of my life, and I've climbed and skiied it. My most sincere sympathies to the family, but I am "blaming the victims." I don't care how experienced and well-equipped you are, you don't climb Hood this time of year, and especially not with the storms we've had this year. The #1 rule in mountain climbing is that "you go with the weather." They broke that in about the worst way possible.

I'm not a climber. But I've heard the explanation for a climb this time if year on theroute they took.

1) If you wanna practice technical ice climbing, it has to be now and it is fairly commonly done so at Mt Hood.

2) the route they were climbing can only be done now (when there is ice there). Otherwise, you would have to traverse exposed loose (rotten) rock. That is unstable and unsafe. So they wait until there is a good covering of "strong" ice to hold the "loose" rock together.

Fern
 
Aug 1, 2006
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My understanding now is that they were lightly dressed for a quick scramble up and back down....
They gambled, they lost, end of story. When planning such an expedition one must always prepare for the worst case scenario (that is, if you value life). They failed to do that.
 

Fern

Elite Member
Sep 30, 2003
26,907
173
106
Originally posted by: International Machine Consortium
My understanding now is that they were lightly dressed for a quick scramble up and back down.....

Yes, I have now also heard that they were dressed lightly and appeared to have less equipment than previously thought.

But to me this highlights an ancillory issue: The incompetence of the media in getting "it" right. E.g. the "Y" was a message, dug into the snow, no the "Y" is an old cable left over from an abandond Forest Service tower, no the "Y" is an anchor used in technical climbing. I could go on....

Now we are hearing that they were lightly dressed for a "quick scamble". However, at the outset we were told of the eqiupment list they left behind, indicating they had more than adequate amounts. We were told that their plans left behind indicated they planned on camping out on the mountain for a couple or 3 nights etc.

So, this is more sh!t that makes no sense. Is a quick scarmble something lasting several days? Can you dress "lightly" while expecting to spend overnight on this mountain at this time of year? WTH? this sounds like so much BS to me.

Whats next? Oops, wrong names? etc.

I'm interested in this story and frustrated by the lack of professional reporting and decent info.
/end rant

Fern