OR OR - Kelly James (dead), Brian Hall, 37, Jerry Cooke, 36, Mt. Hood Climbers, Dec 2006

[scandi]

Hi Roughly {wavy guy} Thanks for the video and good to see you.

 

[AlwaysShocked]

Here's a link to the Oregon Mountaineering Association, with a list of climbing incidents on Mt. Hood: http://www.i-world.net/oma/news/accidents/#elsewhere

 

[RoughlyCollie]

Hi Scandi. I've been checking this thread all day, reading with great interest what you and Buzz have to say. Wish I could add to the discussion, besides saying that I'm praying for these guys.

Hi Roughly {wavy guy} Thanks for the video and good to see you.

 

[Buzz Mills]

Hi Scandi. I've been checking this thread all day, reading with great interest what you and Buzz have to say. Wish I could add to the discussion, besides saying that I'm praying for these guys.

Hi Roughly, welcome to the thread--don't hesitate to join in--all of us are just trying to gather the latest, best, available information.

Here's a website for IOMAX--apparently they are a technology integration group. They are the ones who are going to be able to pinpoint the location of Kelly James's cellphone.

http://iomax.net.hosting.domaindirect.com/

This is a great chance for these technology sources to publicize these capabilities.

 

[scandi]

Good to see you here Roughly. Here is a photo of that heli that crashed in 2002 which is why these rescue teams don't ever want this to happen again:

 

[Buzz Mills]

Good to see you here Roughly. Here is a photo of that heli that crashed in 2002 which is why these rescue teams don't ever want this to happen again:

Story of Helicopter Crash on Mt. Hood
http://archives.cnn.com/2002/US/05/30/oregon.mthood.accident/

 

[RoughlyCollie]

I read all the incident reports. I'm too big of a chicken to ever attempt mountain climbing -- it sounds way too dangerous to me.

Here's a link to the Oregon Mountaineering Association, with a list of climbing incidents on Mt. Hood: http://www.i-world.net/oma/news/accidents/#elsewhere

 

[Buzz Mills]

The Pave Hawk is especially suited to extreme conditions and is used by the Air Force mainly for recovery and rescue.

The Pave Hawk's primary mission is to conduct day or night operations into hostile environments to recover downed personnel during war, according to the Air Force. Its versatility makes the Pave Hawk suited to other tasks like civil search and rescue, emergency medical evacuation, disaster relief, and NASA space shuttle support.

A highly modified version of the Army Black Hawk helicopter, the Pave Hawk features upgraded communications and navigation systems. Pave Hawks are suited with color weather radar and an engine/rotor blade anti-ice system, giving them an all-weather capability.

Its equipment also includes a personnel locating system that provides range and bearing information to a survivor's location.

 

[scandi]

The climers blog site Ca-Sun found was an interesting read, as many coming back off the search posted there. I had to put this up - a photo of Mt Hood showing the north side of the mtn where they went up:

http://www.cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/616247/page/1/fpart/8

Here's another photo from page #1 of that blog. When I saw this staring at me suddenly my heart almost stood still. Looking down at climbers making it up that North side:

Credits to Cascade Climbers. Thanks Scandi

 

[RoughlyCollie]

It is beautiful. I've never been anywhere in the western half of the U.S. The mountains sure are big and the sky is the bluest I've ever seen. From the pictures I've seen in the past couple of weeks, Oregon is a gorgeous place.

The climers blog site Ca-Sun found was an interesting read, as many coming back off the search posted there. I had to put this up - a photo of Mt Hood showing the north side of the mtn where they went up:

http://www.cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/616247/page/1/fpart/8

http://www.cascadeclimbers.com/plab/data/503/medium/IMG_2461.JPG

 

[Buzz Mills]

from the climbers blog:

jfmctlaw
stranger

Posts: 16
Loc: CT I heard or read in several different media streams that the phone is no longer responding to pings as of Wed afternoon. Speculation was that the phone 1) was off, 2) has a dead batt, 3) or had moved enough to lose reception.

I believe they were pinging the phone every 5 or 10 mins, not sure why, and I have no idea how much of a power drain it is for the phone to reply to the ping, but I'm sure the cell phone engineers know what they're doing.

 

[philamena]

Honest opinions...what are the chances these men are alive? I've watched several of the news reports about them tonight andit seems things are looking dim. I know the men are in good physical shape and have trained for this type of climb but could they survive the elements even if they hide in a snow cave?( Hope that's the correct term.) May God watch over them.

 

[Ca-Sun]

Honest opinions...what are the chances these men are alive? I've watched several of the news reports about them tonight andit seems things are looking dim. I know the men are in good physical shape and have trained for this type of climb but could they survive the elements even if they hide in a snow cave?( Hope that's the correct term.) May God watch over them.

From what I read, there is a decent chance they can survive in a snow cave. They are protected from the elements and inside the cave it can get up to 20 degrees warmer than outside. On a mountain climbing forum I was reading earlier, most of the people seemed rather optimistic and a couple of them had (involuntarily) spent time in snow caves themselves .

 

[scandi]

Hi Philamena, Nice to have you herre,

I just read that whole blog these photos came from and there was one climber who said he was in one of those snow caves once for 3 days and 4 nights. When he burst out of the cave he was in good enough shape to walk 18 miles down the mountain to safety.

So I think it is very possible, especially for the 2 men that are not injured that we know of. You never know what the mtn has in store for you. I read about one S&R on Hood tonight where several hikers fell into a ravine. The girl slipped and went backwards sliding down the glacier and took her two climbing friends with her and went down into a ravine. I think 3 died and 3 were saved, in fact I think that is when the helicopter crashed in 2002.

Man-O-Man, Have I read too much tonight or what! LOL scandi

 

[Buzz Mills]

Honest opinions...what are the chances these men are alive? I've watched several of the news reports about them tonight andit seems things are looking dim. I know the men are in good physical shape and have trained for this type of climb but could they survive the elements even if they hide in a snow cave?( Hope that's the correct term.) May God watch over them.

philamena, if Kelly James makes it, it will be an amazing miracle. He's injured, and it would be very difficult to survive this long, even without an injury draining your strength. Two people have a better chance of surviving by the simple fact of the two being together. Two body heats in a snow cave. Still, it has been five days since they left Kelly James, to try and get down the mountain--in bad weather, and that is dangerous, probably especially so to those not intimately familiar with the mountain, and more so during a crisis situation. I give them less than even odds of making it off the mountain alive, but then again I am not a mountain climber, so what do I know.

 

[scandi]

Thanks again Ca-Sun for that blog link. Did you see the photo's I found over there?

 

[Buzz Mills]

Help me with a timeline

12-06-2006 The climbers are Kelly James, 48, who called from the cave, and Brian Hall, 37, both of Dallas, Texas; and Jerry "Nikko" Cooke, 36, of Brooklyn, N.Y.

12-08-2006 James, Hall, and Cooke were to meet other friends at the Timberline Lodge on Friday afternoon. They failed to show up.

12-09-2006 Friends reported the climbers missing. Hall, and Cooke, dug a snow cave for James, and left him to seek help.

12-10-2006 Kelly James, injured, and in a snow cave almost 11,000 feet up on Mt. Hood, called his son Jason Sunday afternoon.

12-13-2006 Search confined to below 7000' due to weather. 911 call attempt from near the top of the mountain at 7:20AM--no connection.

As of Weds. afternoon, no ping response from Kelly James cell phone.

12-14-2006 Bad Weather

12-15-2006 Bad Weather

 

[Ca-Sun]

Thanks again Ca-Sun for that blog link. Did you see the photo's I found over there?

You are welcome, Scandi. I saw the pictures both over there and here, thanks for posting them as they are really beautiful!

That blog has a ton of information from climbers who know what they are talking about and have been there. Some are involved in the rescue operation and provide a first-hand report.

 

[scandi]

Certainly a real bonus to our quality thread, YaYa Actually I think this thread is a real keeper, full of interesting tidbits and aesthetic as heck! Too bad it is about such a sad situation with the weather up there. I think the two men will be found and survive. I'm hoping but not sure about Mr James. YaYai

Scandi

 

[Ca-Sun]

Help me with a timeline

12-06-2006 The climbers are Kelly James, 48, who called from the cave, and Brian Hall, 37, both of Dallas, Texas; and Jerry "Nikko" Cooke, 36, of Brooklyn, N.Y.

12-08-2006 James, Hall, and Cooke were to meet other friends at the Timberline Lodge on Friday afternoon. They failed to show up.

12-09-2006 Friends reported the climbers missing.

12-10-2006 Kelly James, injured, and in a snow cave almost 11,000 feet up on Mt. Hood, called his son Jason Sunday afternoon.

12-13-2006 Search confined to below 7000' due to weather.

12-14-2006 Bad Weather

12-15-2006 Bad Weather

12-11-2006 A 922 call from James's phone is detected but dropped. SAR teams look for climbers