for National Geographic Adventure magazine
Early Sunday morning rescuers set off again toward 11,239-foot (3,425-meter) summit of Oregon's Mount Hood (see photo) in hopes of saving three experienced mountain climbers who have been trapped by blizzard for a week.
The search team was aiming for an ice cave near the crest of the mountain, from which one of the climbers made a phone call last Sunday, December 10. Today's relatively clear skies gave reason for hope—yesterday's turbulent weather had stymied the rescuers' shot at the summit.
As a cold, limp drizzle fell Saturday against the satellite television trucks parked at 4,000 feet (1,220 meters) near the base of Mount Hood, it was hard to imagine the ferocity of the storm higher up (Oregon map).
But above the Cooper Spur ski area 99-mile-an-hour (159-kilometer-an-hour) winds knocked over trees and cut power lines. Whiteout conditions dropped visibility to less than five feet (one and a half meters) and knocked would-be rescuers off their feet.
(Related: Mount Hood named fourth most dangerous United States volcano.)
Serious Mountaineers
The climbers began their journey December 7. It was supposed to last two days.
Nine days later, friends who were gathered here in Hood River said that Brian Hall, 37, Jerry "Nikko" Cooke, 36, and Kelly James, 48, are likely hunkered down in a snow cave somewhere near the summit waiting for the clouds to break. As soon as the wind stops, friends and family hope, the three will emerge dehydrated and sore but otherwise fine.
"I don't think people understand how these guys are serious mountaineers," said Frank James, Kelly James's oldest brother and spokesman for the climbers' families. "If anyone can survive this, they can."
That's not just wishful thinking.
People have survived storms for much longer in snow caves on Mount Hood, including Gary Schneider, a Portland, Oregon, resident who drove up to Cooper Spur on Friday to tell family members not to give up hope.
"Thirty years ago I spent 13 cold, wet days stuck in a snow cave on this mountain and made it out fine," he said, standing in 18 inches (46 centimeters) of fresh snow at the ski area.
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