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Climbers Feared Dead


sox4lifeinPA

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QUOTE(Texsox @ Dec 12, 2006 -> 04:06 PM)
I could be wrong, but I thought it was above freezing, but generally not warm enough to melt snow. If that was the case, a snow cave would be a miserable place to stay warm, you would be wet? No?

That is in fact one of the problems. But, like an ice hotel, you can be 50 degrees inside and not melt it if its iced over and thick enough. I don't know how or why that works, but it does. And I don't know what temp it would actually be in there.

 

As long as you are warm enough yourself, you can also just warm the snow with your body heat. But you need to be careful there.

 

Also, if its a regular old cave, if you go far enough in ground, it will be reliably in the 50's most of the time.

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QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Dec 12, 2006 -> 04:14 PM)
That is in fact one of the problems. But, like an ice hotel, you can be 50 degrees inside and not melt it if its iced over and thick enough. I don't know how or why that works, but it does. And I don't know what temp it would actually be in there.

 

As long as you are warm enough yourself, you can also just warm the snow with your body heat. But you need to be careful there.

 

Also, if its a regular old cave, if you go far enough in ground, it will be reliably in the 50's most of the time.

 

Regardless, being up there without a stove would be stupid in my book. And a warm down bag. Those 5 pounds per person could be the difference between life and death.

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QUOTE(Kid Gleason @ Dec 12, 2006 -> 05:36 PM)
I'm printing this thread out and taking it with me when I go to the Himalayans. This and a book of matches. Oh, and hot dogs.

 

good ideaz.... I'd hate to be stuck in the mountains without a wiener to munch...

 

 

wait..that came out wrong...

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QUOTE(Texsox @ Dec 12, 2006 -> 05:15 PM)

I prefer a hot lady, but if you're into dogs . . .

 

Only Cocker Spaniels. And only ones named Joe.

 

I almost felt bad thinking that this thread about these poor guys had taken this turn.

 

Then I remembered they were in an ice cave and probably weren't reading it. So, then I decided it was O.K., like making fun of the Amish.

 

 

 

 

Sorry...I really do hope these guys are found. For some reason the story doesn't carry the dread on it that the Kim story did last week. By these guys being adventureers you have a small bit of hope.

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QUOTE(YASNY @ Dec 14, 2006 -> 11:42 AM)
I just heard a weather forcast for Mt. Hood. Brutal conditions coming tonight. Winds up to 130 mph with plummeting temperatures. This doesn't look good at all. :pray

 

How long have these guys been up there now??? I'm thinking it wasn't "looking good for them" a little while ago.

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QUOTE(YASNY @ Dec 14, 2006 -> 11:42 AM)
I just heard a weather forcast for Mt. Hood. Brutal conditions coming tonight. Winds up to 130 mph with plummeting temperatures. This doesn't look good at all. :pray

 

The two guys who went for help are probably in a lot of trouble unless they found a snow cave also. At this point, they have almost zero chance of survival if they didn't have stoves, fuel, and great sleeping bags with.

 

Linda Young - All Headline News Staff Writer

 

Cooper Spur, OR (AHN) - There was renewed hope on Thursday of finding three climbers alive who have been stranded on Oregon's Mount Hood by snow, ice and gale force winds since Sunday. Kelly James' cell phone carrier reported it had picked up a signal from his phone on Tuesday night.

 

James' phone had been turned off earlier and officials said that picking up the signal indicated the phone was turned back on. Officials speculate that James, 48, was turning the cell phone off to conserve the battery. In addition, T-Mobile reported that a call was initiated from James' cell phone on Monday morning.

 

"My heart was in my throat when I heard that, because if it's true it means Kelly is alive, and he has his wits about him," the AP reported that his brother, Frank James of Orlando, Fla., said at a news conference.

 

The Hood River County Sheriff's Office said T-Mobile continued to signal, or "ping," the cell phone Wednesday, but the last signal received was Tuesday night, according to AP reports.

 

Rescuers have brought equipment and helicopters to the site, but 100-mile per hour winds and ice, along with snow have hampered their efforts to search the 11,239 foot high mountain.

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UPDATE - GOOD NEWS...

 

So, the sherriff's department up there asked for the assistance of the 304th Air Force SAR team out of Portland, and they are now managing that operation. Further, a C-130 equiped heavily with surveillance and detection equipment (FLIR and what not) is on the way there today from Reno, NV.

 

Part of the reason for the renewed vigor in the rescue attempt a week in is that they also found another note from the climbers, this one at an interior Ranger station on the mountain. The note indicates the gear they brought, which was exactly what they should have had - bivy sack, shovel, heavy winter gear, food, stove and fuel, cell phone, etc. So, it appears the initial reports of them going up "fast and light" may not have been entirely accurate. That combined with the cell phone signal would seem to indicate that, if properly sheltered, these guys could probably survive a couple weeks up there.

 

So, news is actually good. Sounds like after some afternoon/evening surveillance from the air, they are planning a major, multi-pronged assault on Hood tomorrow morning to find them.

 

This is from what I saw on CNN, I don't have a link.

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Two more things.

 

One, one of these guys' name is Brian Hall. I'd have to find my book, but if I recall, and if its the same one, I think he was on Everest in '96 during the killing season (see Krakauer's book Into Thin Air, or Boukreev's follow up book, I forget the name). If that's him, and he survived that, he's probably pretty tough.

 

Two, personal recommendation to anyone going really outback like this - 2-way GMRS extended range radios. We always carry two. They have up to a 15 mile range (though significantly less in a storm), are self-powered (not cellular), and we always let people know when we leave our plan information what frequency and privacy code we are on. The radios also have an emergency frequency, which some agencies might monitor in a scenario like this.

Edited by NorthSideSox72
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QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Dec 15, 2006 -> 12:19 PM)
Two more things. One, one of these guys' name is Brian Hall. I'd have to find my book, but if I recall, and if its the same one, I think he was on Everest in '96 during the killing season (see Krakauer's book Into Thin Air, or Boukreev's follow up book, I forget the name). If that's him, and he survived that, he's probably pretty tough.

 

Wasn't it Rob Hall on Everest?

 

That stove and fuel will be their lifelines. I wonder if they brought two, remember the group split up.

 

:pray

 

Into Thin Air is excellent. DId you also read his book Into the Wild? It's the idiot that went to Alaska with almost nothing and died of exposure? A simple map would have saved him.

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QUOTE(Texsox @ Dec 15, 2006 -> 12:22 PM)
Wasn't it Rob Hall on Everest?

 

That stove and fuel will be their lifelines. I wonder if they brought two, remember the group split up.

 

:pray

You're probably right, that was Rob Hall. If so, nevermind. Although these three are pretty experienced climbers, it sounds like.

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QUOTE(Texsox @ Dec 15, 2006 -> 12:30 PM)
I am wondering now why they split up.

If one of them was injured badly enough that the clock was running, they'd probably leave him in the cave and do a haul-ass run for help. Might be why they got stuck in the first place. Weather up there is unpredictable, and it may have seemed clear when they made the call.

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