• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Teams Head for Peak in Climbers' Search

Posted on: Sunday, 17 December 2006, 12:00 CST

By JOSEPH B. FRAZIER

HOOD RIVER, Ore. - Search teams headed for the summit of Mount Hood on Sunday, hoping to find the snow cave where one of three missing climbers made a distress call a week ago.

Searchers got close to the 11,239-foot summit Saturday, reaching 10,600 feet before nightfall and worsening conditions forced them off the mountain. With the weather colder but clearer Sunday, they set out again from 6,000 feet and planned to make it to the top, Hood River County Sheriff Joe Wampler said.

"We have climbers on the way to the summit right now," he told Fox News.

Crews expected to make better time in their ascent thanks to a path they beat in the snow Saturday, sheriff's Sgt. Gerry Tiffany said.

The teams on the mountain were to be joined for a third day by a Nevada Air National Guard C-130 cargo plane equipped with infrared heat sensors that could detect a person against the cold backdrop of snow.

There has been no communication from Kelly James, 48, of Dallas, 37-year-old Brian Hall of Dallas, or 36-year-old Jerry "Nikko" Cooke of New York City since Dec. 10, when James used his cell phone to call his family. He told them he was sheltering in a snow cave while his companions started back down the mountain, apparently to get help for him.

The last clue to their whereabouts was a brief signal returned from James' cell phone Tuesday.

On Saturday, the cold hobbled rescue efforts as some searchers had to come down because of facial frostbite.

However, that cold was accompanied by a temporary break in weeklong stormy conditions, paving the way for the biggest push yet since the three men were reported missing on what was to have been a quick climb to the peak.

Wampler said Saturday that the odds of finding the three alive would improve if they kept the sleeping bags they had said they were taking with them. Some climbers stash gear to lighten their load as they climb, picking it up on the way back down, but Wampler said no stashes had been found.

At a news conference earlier Saturday, the mothers of the three climbers choked back tears as they expressed hope their sons would be found.

"I want the mountain to release our sons," said Cooke's mother, Maria Kim. "The mountain has no right to keep our sons."

Source: Associated Press/AP Online

More News in this Category