Well, that certainly was disappointing this afternoon, In the presser the Sheriff said from the piper cub they had spotted an area where the snow was yellow. Turns out it was rocks below the snow or ice, so they had nothing to warrant another search this afternoon with the weather coming in.
I just heard on FOX that acc to the autiopsy, Kelly James had no disabling injuries and that he died from hypothermia. Now we know what happened, and I think that with no insulated coat and not sleeping in a bag, hypothermia set in quite quickly for him. Jerry and Brian must have fallen to their deaths as the Sheriff has said.
With no disabling injuries, I don't think Kelly was left by the other 2 to go get help. The only reason you would ever split up is if it is a life or death matter. I don't think his hypothermia was, and if it was, he could still be rescued by a helicopter if they had called 911 which they never did. Now I'm thinking the 3 spent Fri night in their 3 man cave and Sat morn set off to go back down the mtn.
They got the the spot right above the Gullies where the Y anchor was to that old shack was on the ledge, now gone, hollowed out a shelter by that big rock to get out of the nasty weather for a bit and then set their webbing for an anchor to scale or drop down that almost vertical cliff to go down Eliot Glacier. I think Kelly had already dislocated his shoulder which would be painful so he waited up on the ledge. They finished that anchor and walked back up to the ledge to get Kelly and tied up together. Standing ready to go down I think either the first in line slipped or was caught by the wind and went over the cliff with the second man following him. I think Kelly was the last man tied, and to survive, had to cut the rope so he wouldn't go over as well.
Then I think he walked over to that big rock and up that slope to the snow behind where the footprints are. I see one set of tracks that look like they are leaving the area. And I think he went back towards the cave, weak, in a state of shock having realized his buddies just fell to their deaths in the blizzard, and when he thought he was close to the cave, with white out conditions and hypothermia setting in, walked around in a circle to get his bearings till he found the cave and went in. By that time it was probably into the evening time, and he was not feeling very good and was so stunned at what had happened, so he laid down on his pack {which he was found with acc to the guy who found him at CC}.
If he slept at all with the howling wind, it would have been daylight when he awoke and then he called home, talked to his son, then his wife called him back and the Sheriff told her to have him turn of his cell which he did.
I think he lasted till early Tues morn when he turned his cell on and then off right away to give a signal to his family he would be gone very soon. Very sad the turn of events, but it does explain why his were the only tools they found except the ice picks planted in the ice where they went over or set the anchor, why nothing of Jerry and Brian's was found except their ice picks and why the rope was cut. I think the Sheriff was trying to tell us these things but didn't want rule out any hope in case he was wrong, as the family still had high hopes. He knew all 3 ice picks were found and a rope was cut. That's when they fell to their deaths.
Hard to imagine what Kelly went through before the end. Seeing his buddies get blown over that ledge and having to cut himself away from them as he knew there was no way to save them, then locate his cave in a whiteout, realize he needed to call his family, tried to call 911 but couldn't get through and then realizing he was very sick by Tuesday morning, and it probably took all the energy he had to turn the phone on and then off again.
God bless them all. Scandi
