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Death on Mt. Hood - What happened to the three North Face climbers?

Copyright© 2004 by shredmaximus. All Rights Reserved

Note: I would guess that this is the adventure that Kelly James, Brian Hall and Jerry "Nikko" Cooke were expecting. It is sport at a high level. Risk is an essential element of Alpine Mountaineering.  Jerry Cooke, as a frequent poster to CascadeClimbers.com, had undoubtedly studied this Trip Report.
--Webmeister Speik

A problem with navigation is described above. They may not have been able to find the South Side Route through the Pearly Gates.

National Geographic Adventure's Analysis of this mountaineering accident

When the belly door of the helicopter opened, Josh Johnston could see the mountain below through swirling snow whipped in the rotor wash. The two-year veteran of the U.S. Air Force Reserve's 304th Combat Rescue Squadron clipped his harness onto a ring at the end of a hoisting cable, lowered his goggles, and dropped into the sky.

One of the worst storms in a decade had been raging for a week around 11,239-foot (3,426-meter) Mount Hood, Oregon's highest peak. Gusts had topped 130 miles an hour (209 kilometers an hour), and the wind chill sank to -40ºF (-40ºC). Up to five feet (two meters) of new snow had fallen in places, and somewhere near the summit, three missing climbers were enduring an unknown fate.

Once on the mountain, Johnston moved deliberately off the northeast face. All around him the slopes groaned with avalanche danger. Tracks led down from the summit but quickly disappeared in the wind-blasted hard pack. Following a hunch, Johnston continued on for another 300 feet (91 meters), tapping his ice ax at the edge of some exposed rocks. Suddenly the snow sounded hollow. "I thought, Holy shit, this is it," he says. Johnston punched his adze through the opening of a sealed snow cave. Inside lay the body of climber Kelly James, confirming the harsh reality that one of the largest and most public mountain rescues ever mounted in the United States would not have a happy ending.

For more than a week before Christmas 2006, the country was consumed by the saga of James, a 48-year-old landscape architect from Dallas, and his two climbing partners, Brian Hall, 38, a personal trainer also from Dallas, and Jerry "Nikko" Cooke, 36, a lawyer from New York City. The men, all fit and experienced mountaineers, had attempted to climb a 2,000-foot (610-meter) technical ice route on Mount Hood's north face, but a storm had pinned them near the summit. The results are now well known—three climbers, all dead—but what remained was a question: How did things go so terribly wrong?

The story began early on Friday, December 8, when the climbers rolled up their sleeping bags and set out from a backcountry cabin nestled at 6,000 feet (1,829 meter) among cedars and firs. Their plan, as described in a note they left on the dash of their rented SUV, was to reach the summit via the north face and then to descend the easier southern slopes to the Timberline Lodge in a single day. It was an ambitious itinerary, nearly a vertical mile up and a vertical mile down with probably 12 to 14 hours of climbing in total, but for Cooke, Hall, and James—veterans with combined experience in the Cascades, the Andes, and the Alps—it was hardly outlandish.

Starting that morning, the climbers edged along a cliff band toward the face, keeping the gnarled crevasses of the Eliot Glacier to their right. The sky dawned clear, another in a weeklong run of unusually mild days, but according to weather reports at the time—we can only assume Cooke, Hall, and James checked them—it wouldn't remain that way for long. Meteorologist Tyree Wilde of the National Weather Service in Portland says that conditions were predicted to deteriorate into rain and then snow that afternoon (and had been forecast to do so for a full week before the climb). That evening a series of storms was expected to barrel in from the Pacific. One, on December 14, would be so severe that it would leave a million people in Oregon and Washington without power.

Typically, it takes three to four hours to hike the 3,000-plus feet (914-plus kilometers) from the cabin to the north face and the start of the climbing route. In winter, mountaineers generally leave between two and four in the morning to reach the face by first light. But it appears that Cooke, Hall, and James were running late. Photographs recovered from a camera found on James's body have not been released to the public, but a number of rescuers have commented on them. Reportedly, one places the team on the lower Eliot Glacier in broad daylight, perhaps an hour and a half away from the face. On December 8 the sun rose at 7:38 a.m., meaning the shot had to have been taken between
8 a.m. and 9 a.m. Assuming that is true, the climbers could not have reached the beginning of their route earlier than 9:30 a.m., at least two hours behind schedule.

As the men roped up at the base of the face, at around 9,400 feet (2,865 meters), the sky was likely still perfect. That morning Wilde recorded sunny skies and a balmy 50ºF (10ºC) at 5,000 feet (1,524 meters). The route the climbers eyed, a lick of ice up the face's left couloir, would take about five roped pitches and five to six hours to complete. If the climbing went smoothly, they'd hit the summit by mid-afternoon and then work their way down to the Timberline. It was a tight window; they would never make it all the way to the lodge before sunset, at 4:27 p.m., and every additional moment would put them in the path of oncoming foul weather. It was at this point, rescuers believe, that the climbers made what would be a fatal decision: Rather than turn around, they cached most of their gear and proceeded up the mountain as light and fast as possible—one photo shows James carrying only a small daypack, and when Johnston found his remains, he had no sleeping bag, down jacket, or bivvy sack.

At first the climbing was probably enjoyable. They sunk axes into 50-degree snow slopes and front-pointed up steps of near-vertical ice. But, for reasons we'll never know, the progress was slow. Originally, rescuers believed James had been hurt, but an autopsy report shows no signs of injury. Maybe the pitches were tougher than expected, or maybe the route was in worse condition than the climbers had counted on after such a long spell of warm weather. Most likely, though, the team was stalled by the onset of the storm.

By mid-afternoon, Wilde says, the conditions on the mountain were deteriorating rapidly, with the temperatures sinking and winds mounting. Indeed, a telling photo reportedly shows the team still climbing in late afternoon, again later than expected, with heavy clouds rolling in. Brian Hukari, a rescue worker who inspected the route more than a week later, found an icy layer in the snowpack that suggests they may have been caught in a rainstorm.

Wearing rain-soaked clothing (which speeds the body's loss of heat 25-fold), the climbers would have rapidly grown hypothermic in the plummeting temperatures. Their pace would've dropped as they fumbled with numb fingers and shivered violently. They would have struggled to keep their balance and coordination as strength drained from their limbs. Worst of all, their thinking would have grown increasingly cluttered and irrational. By that evening it was snowing hard, with temperatures in the 20s and winds up to 40 miles an hour (64 kilometers an hour).

The terror of clinging to the side of a 50-degree ice slope in a whiteout and dwindling light is hard to imagine. Yet retreating down the steep icy face of the "left couloir," as the route is known, was more dangerous than going up. "There is no easy way out once you're in that chute," Hukari says. And so the three pushed higher into the thick of the storm, eventually reaching the summit.

With only light gear among them, the climbers did the best thing they could have done: They dropped down the east face, out of the wind, and dug a snow cave big enough for all three of them, deftly burrowing under rocks for additional protection. How long they stayed there is unclear, but at 3:45 p.m. on December 10, after nearly 40 hours hunkered down in the storm, James called his wife in Dallas. Karen James said her husband sounded confused, alternately saying that Hall had gone for help and that Cooke was on a plane. James probably froze to death not long after.

As to what happened to Cooke and Hall, the clues yield more questions than answers. Nearly a week after James called home, spotters in Blackhawk helicopters photographed what looked like a climbing anchor about 400 feet (122 meters) below the summit. Nearby, Hukari found a ledge big enough for two people, hacked out of the slope. On it, two new ice tools sat disturbingly abandoned, as did half a foam pad and an 8.5-mm climbing rope cut into four sections. Another set of tracks on the summit disappeared in an entirely different direction—into an icy chute that precipitously drops 2,500 feet (752 meters) to the Newton Clark Glacier below. "Spring," says Bernie Wells, a volunteer rescuer, "that's when they'll find them."

In the end, the nation, media, and families of the dead mourned the three climbers killed on Mount Hood. It was the worst possible outcome, and the nagging questions that no one had wanted to ask began to surface: Why did the three men decide to climb a demanding route with no easy exit, late in the day, with little gear, and a storm barreling toward them? Was it acceptable risk or a case of bad judgment? We'll never know for certain. Likely it was the simple eagerness born of standing at the base of a magnificent face on a cloudless morning that pushed Cooke, Hall, and James to rope up. From that moment on, they never had a chance.

NBC's Peter Alexander reports on the latest in the search for a group of missing climbers on Oregon's Mount Hood.
Nightly News

“We remain hopeful,” said Capt. Mike Braibish, spokesman for the Oregon National Guard. “We are going to still collect information and pursue the rescue of the two other climbers.”

Teams of climbers and a helicopter will work Monday to remove the body from the 11,239-foot mountain, said Marc Smith, also a spokesman for the Hood River Sheriff’s Office.

Near the first snow cave, helicopters had spotted rope that had been intentionally laid out in a Y-shape, which climbers often use to indicate their location. There was also an ice spike and footprints, said Sgt. Gerry Tiffany, spokesman for the Hood River County Sheriff’s Office.

The footprints appeared to head up the mountain toward the summit, but were blown out by the wind at higher points, Tiffany said.

Searchers dug through the first cave, about 300 feet below the summit, to ensure no one was there and took the equipment, which will be examined for clues.

Weather conditions have been harsh since the three were reporting missing eight days ago, with heavy snow fall and wind gusts of up to 100 mph. The snow stopped Saturday, but wind up to 50 mph blew the fresh snow, hampering visibility. Skies were blue Sunday, the wind was still, and temperatures at the summit were reported near zero degrees.


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.

© 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

2 climbers may have fallen and died
By JOSEPH B. FRAZIER
December 18, 2006

HOOD RIVER, Ore. - Two climbers still missing on Mount Hood may have been swept to their deaths over a treacherous cliff by howling winds of more than 100 mph after they left their possibly injured companion behind in a snow cave to get help.

Sheriff Joe Wampler offered that scenario as rescuers went back up the mountain in helicopters Monday to retrieve the body of Kelly James from the snow cave and try again to find his two companions, who have been missing for a week.

But the sheriff spoke grimly about the chances the pair were still alive: "We failed them. We literally failed them. But we tried our best, I know that."

James' body was discovered over the weekend. Wampler said climbing equipment found on the mountain — including two slings and two aluminum anchors driven into the snow — led rescuers to believe that James' companions, Brian Hall and Jerry "Nikko" Cooke, had tried to secure themselves to the steep slope. That was the last sign of the two.

Because of that, authorities said, it appears more and more likely that they were victims of an accident.

If they did not find a place to take shelter, the sheriff warned, the climbers are long past the point of survival. But he added: "You can last a long time in a hole. We're going to keep looking for that hole."

The spot on the 11,239-foot mountain where the two men vanished is commonly known as "the gullies," with a 60-degree slope and a treacherous 2,500-foot drop-off.

Thirteen deaths over the past 40 years have been recorded in the same area.

Teams were expected to continue searching for two more days, but weather forecasts may require them to take a break about Wednesday.

James, a 48-year-old landscape architect from Dallas, made a cell phone call from the cave on Dec. 10, telling his family the party was in trouble.

Wampler said it appears the three climbers succeeded in reaching the summit from the difficult north side and started go down the easier south side. They apparently tried to pass through a rock-and-ice formation known as the Pearly Gates, but did not find it.

They built a snow cave, possibly because of bad weather, the sheriff said. He said all three probably spent the night of Dec. 8 there. The next day, he said, two of the men
probably left the cave to go in search of help for James, who may have been injured. Then, the weather deteriorated even more.

The two had to dig another snow cave on a steep slope for themselves, not far from the first one, and apparently used snow anchors to secure themselves to the mountain as bad weather raged around them, the sheriff said.

"At some point they were standing there clipped into something, probably because it was so windy there. I mean this is a really steep, dangerous place on the mountain," Wampler said.

Two ice axes, a glove, some rope and a piece of sleeping mat were found along with the slings and snow anchors.

If they cannot find the climbers, rescue teams may start digging through as much as 10 feet of new snow that has fallen on the mountain, the sheriff said. "These guys left a trail better than most. But looking for three people on a very big mountain is a needle in a haystack," he said.

The climbers may have suffered through weather similar to conditions on Mount Everest, the world's highest peak, said Jim Whittaker, who in 1963 became the first American to climb to the top of Everest.

"It can turn into an Everest when you get those high winds and snow," said Whittaker, speaking from his home in Port Townsend, Wash. "You get knocked over by the wind. Your goggles fog up. You can't even travel."

Most climbers attempt Mount Hood in May and June, when the weather is calmer. But Whittaker said he did not think it was reckless for the three men to climb Mount Hood during the winter.

"They were climbers that knew what they were doing. They were just pushing themselves to their farthest frontiers. That's when people are at their best," he said.

Frank James, brother of Kelly James, choked back tears when he said a ring found on his brother's body inside the snow cave had confirmed his identity

"This is a difficult day for all three families," James said. "I feel that I have two other brothers still on the mountain," he said.

New storm approaching, 2 climbers still missing
CNN
December 20, 2006

HOOD RIVER, Oregon (CNN) -- With hope fading and a new snowstorm approaching, rescuers focused Tuesday on a small area of Mount Hood, looking for new clues that might lead them to two stranded climbers.

The body of a third climber, Kelly James, was removed from the 11,239-foot mountain Monday night.

Hood River County Sheriff Joe Wampler said Tuesday that a camera was recovered along with James' body, and the pictures it contained were proving very valuable to investigators.

But the pictures also were cause for concern, he said. "After developing those pictures, looking what they had with them, I'm pretty concerned about how long somebody can last out there."

He said the climbers were "lightly equipped but well equipped." (Watch how the search is slowing )

The pictures, which started with "three happy guys" getting ready for their climb, also showed the climbers' progress, he said.

"The pictures are telling us they were at a certain place at a certain time, that they were on the gully route to the summit at a certain time of day -- we can tell all that by what the pictures look like." (Climbers' likely path)

The plan Tuesday called for fixed-wing aircraft to fly over the area looking for clues, or better yet, the missing climbers: Brian Hall, 37, of Dallas, Texas, and Jerry "Nikko" Cooke, 36, of Brooklyn, New York.

"We're still looking for those little clues so that we can make plans to move ground teams into certain areas if we need to, and also maintain the opportunity for Brian and Nikko to stick their head up out of that hole up there someplace and self-rescue themselves, and we want to be there to see that if that happens," Wampler said.

Early Tuesday, ground search teams were standing by, waiting for assignments based on what was spotted from the aircraft.

Wampler also was preparing to send an avalanche team, made up of experts at probing deep snow on the mountainside.

"There is a chance that these guys, instead of falling -- which is one scenario -- they've been covered up by snow, that they have crawled into a crag or a crack to get out of the wind, and stuff has come on top of them, and they're still there waiting for us to come get them," Wampler said.

Weather was a major concern, with a new storm expected to hit the area around midday Wednesday.

"It's going to put us on hold, literally, for a while," Wampler said. "So that's why we'll keep flying, we'll keep people up there. We're going to try to get this avalanche thing in place and done before that moisture gets here."

CNN meteorologist Chad Myers said the storm was expected to hit Mount Hood about 2 p.m. Wednesday (5 p.m. ET), bringing rain at lower elevations, icing between 5,000 and 6,000 feet, and snow above that.

The search area had been narrowed to an area between the snow cave where James' body was found and an area directly below. (Watch sheriff explain how rescuers have narrowed search )

James had called his family from the snow cave on December 10, explaining that his two climbing companions had left him to get help. The three had begun their trek two days earlier.

His body was found Sunday. James had suffered a dislocated shoulder, said Wampler.

Tracks found in the snow offered another clue. Wampler said mountain climbers normally walk in each other's tracks.

"There's basically 20 guys making one track to the top," he said. "Well, we've got some strange tracks that tell us that two people at least were walking side by side, which may indicate one guy was trying to help another."

The Hood River County Sheriff's Office estimates it spent roughly $5,000 a day for the first three days and about $6,500 a day after that, The Associated Press reported. But that's only part of what will be become the final price tag, the AP said. (Full story)

Asked whether his optimism is fading, Wampler said, "Realistically, hope and optimism is based on fact. How long can somebody survive out in this environment, based on their experience, what they're able to do, and take care of themselves?

"We are approaching that time when we've got to make some serious considerations whether we're spinning our wheels or not."

"The big search probably is over -- the look-everywhere-we-possibly-can," Wampler said. "Because I think we did that, I think we've done a pretty good job."

But, he said, "This office is not going to give up until somebody tells me the risk of doing this thing outweighs the results."
Copyright 2006 CNN. All rights reserved.

Autopsy shows Mt. Hood climber was uninjured
Search for missing men called off as storm moves in
By KTVZ.com news sources and AP
December 20, 2006

HOOD RIVER, Ore. -- Autopsy results Wednesday showed that Mount Hood climber Kelly James, whose body was recovered Monday, was not injured as previously thought.

James did not have a dislocated shoulder, as reported by authorities earlier this week. Furthermore, James' body showed no broken bones or injuries that would have prevented his mobility, according to the state medical examiner, Dr. Larry Lewman.

Lewman said James died of hypothermia, from exposure to the cold, and that dehydration may have been a contributing factor. Chemical tests are pending.

"Mr. James had been deceased several days prior to the discovery of his remains in the snow cave," the medical examiner added.

Rescue teams gave up any hope of finding two missing climbers alive on stormy Mount Hood and abandoned the frustrating, 9-day-old search Wednesday.

"We've done everything we can at this point," said Sheriff Joe Wampler, choking back tears after returning from one last, fruitless flyover of the 11,239-foot peak.

As weather permits, officials will now look for the bodies of Brian Hall and Jerry "Nikko" Cooke, he said.

Three climbers in all were reported missing in the snow on Mount Hood on Dec. 11. One of them, 48-year-old Dallas landscape architect Kelly James, was found dead in a snow cave on Sunday and removed the following day. Volunteers continued scouring the mountains for signs of James' climbing partners, Hall, a 37-year-old personal trainer from Dallas, and Cooke, a 36-year-old lawyer from New York City. But climbing gear found on the peak suggested the two may have been swept to their deaths over a precipice or buried in an avalanche.

Wampler said the men's families made the decision to end the search as yet another snowstorm barreled in.

"It was pretty much their conclusion. The chance of survival is pretty nil. I don't think I can justify putting any more people in the field with the hope of finding them alive," the sheriff said.

The men's families had no immediate comment.

The announcement ended a dramatic and heartbreaking search on the rocky, snow-covered flanks of Oregon's tallest mountain that began on Dec. 11.

During the height of the effort, scores of volunteers, deputies and National Guardsmen on foot and in helicopters and a plane had searched the mountain for the men, who had set out Dec. 8 for what was supposed to be a two-day climb to the peak and back down.

On Dec. 10, James called his family via cell phone to say that the party was in trouble and that his two companions had gone downhill for help. Authorities suspect James had suffered a dislocated shoulder, perhaps in a fall.

After James' body was discovered, search teams held out hope that Hall and Cooke had dug a cave in the snow and were awaiting rescue, as climbers are trained to do.

In one last attempt, Wampler piloted a Piper Cub over the mountain on Wednesday, looking into a report by snowshoers of a yellow tent in a snow field. He said it turned out to be a rock.

"Right now things are moving in from the west," he said of the snowstorm. "That window has shut on us."

Even before the sheriff spoke, the search had already been scaled back dramatically. All of the volunteers had packed up and returned to their regular lives, and helicopters used in the search had returned to their bases.

"I feel good abut what I did. I wanted to do what I could for the family," Wampler said. "You start something you want to finish it."

© 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Searchers Scale Back Search for 2 Climbers on Mount Hood
By WILLIAM YARDLEY
December 20, 2006

HOOD RIVER, Ore., Dec. 19 — The search for two climbers missing on Mount Hood for more than a week was scaled back considerably on Tuesday, reflecting rescuers’ increased focus on a relatively small area near the summit but also on the cold logic that any chance of survival is slim.

“We are approaching that time when we’ve got to make some serious considerations about whether we’re spinning our wheels,” Sheriff Joe Wampler of Hood River County

Foul weather was expected to arrive as soon as Wednesday, Sheriff Wampler said, probably putting the rescue effort “on hold.”

A third climber, Kelly James of Dallas, was found dead in a snow cave near the 11,239-foot summit on Sunday, a week after he told his family in a cellphone call that he was taking shelter there. Mr. James had an arm injury, possibly dislocating his shoulder, the sheriff said on Tuesday. His two fellow climbers, Brian Hall of Dallas and Jerry Cooke of Brooklyn, had planned to descend the mountain to find help.

After several days in which rescuers scoured much of the perimeter of the mountain, following various potential clues, they now are focusing on an area on the north side of the mountain, just below the summit. There, rescuers found a hastily dug cave with two ice axes and other tools, critical climbing gear not likely to have been intentionally left behind.

The sheriff has said that the climbers may have fallen in a steep section known as the gullies, near Eliot Glacier, and that they could have encountered an avalanche. He said they also could have found shelter in a crag in the ice and snow, become buried and now be “waiting for us to come get them.”

The climbers began their ascent on Dec. 8, planning to reach the top and then descend in a single day.

Photographs in a camera that was found with Mr. James’s body showed that the climbers “were lightly equipped but well equipped,” the sheriff said. Having seen the equipment in the photographs, which he did not describe in detail, he said, “I’m pretty concerned about how long somebody could last out there.”

Helicopters flown by the Oregon National Guard returned to their regular bases on Tuesday, as did soldiers in the Air Force Reserve who removed Mr. James’s body from the mountain on Monday. Small planes belonging to the sheriff’s office continued to maintain “visual vigilance” of the mountain on Tuesday, and the sheriff said an avalanche team hoped to search the area of focus before the weather turned.

Angela Hall, a sister of Brian Hall, asked those who have followed rescue efforts to pray for her brother and Mr. Cooke, “now more than ever.”
Copyright 2006 CNN. All rights reserved.

Climbing 'light and fast' also proves deadly
Minimalists spark a debate after recent mountain deaths
By MIKE LEWIS
P-I REPORTER
Monday, January 15, 2007

As the story goes, the climbers would have died that August week on Mount Rainier two years ago.

Two members of the eight-climber group had been hurt, one with a broken leg. They sent a team back down the route to get help just as foul weather set in. Down slope, the descending climbers found help in the form of park ranger Mike Gauthier.

The rising storm made an immediate rescue impossible. The eight-member team had been traveling "light and fast" -- the mantra of the modern climber. With minimal fuel
and supplies, they had been prepared for a fast summit and return. A stay of several freezing nights at altitude wasn't in the plan.

"If they had not run into some other climbers with extra fuel, at least a couple of them would have died," Gauthier said recently. "They had to dig in, and they weren't prepared."

This is, experienced climbers say, the fine, often shifting line that defines light-and-fast climbing, or the pursuit of a summit with as little extra gear as possible.

The deaths of three climbers on Mount Hood in December renewed the ongoing discussion among serious climbers about where the minimalist line should be drawn -- although it remains unclear exactly how much extra, multi-day-stay gear the Hood trio had.

Two of the climbers' bodies have not been found. The third died of exposure, not injuries, while hunkered in a snow cave. Would more gear have saved him?

"It's hard to say, but at Denali, for example, you are prepared to stay a week in a cave if necessary. And people do that," said Jay Sherrerd, member of the Mount Hood Crag Rats, a climbing club that helped with the rescue attempt. Two Crag Rats found the body of climber Kelly James in the snow cave.

Although it's true that 11,237-foot Hood is no 20,320-foot Mount McKinley in Denali National Park, a winter summit on the Oregon volcano is difficult, particularly on its north face.

Sherrerd, who has climbed Hood a dozen times, cautioned that the Hood accident might not represent anything more than bad luck for three climbers who got caught in the worst storm anyone can remember. Winds near the summit topped 100 mph for several days in a row.

"But in mid-December, you have to plan for terrible weather, too. Their e-mails indicated they planned for a quick two-day summit. Sometimes, that's just not going to happen."

E-mails among the trio in the two months before the climb, rescuers said, indicate that they had an internal debate about what gear to take, including whether to pack bivy bags -- sleeping baglike emergency shelters -- for their winter summit attempt. Years ago, a bivy bag would have been considered as necessary as water.

"You see people going up Rainier", Gauthier said, "with all of the right things to achieve a perfect climb. But what if it isn't perfect? What if it turns into several days in a snow cave?"

This has been the subject of discussion on climbing message boards. Indeed, some of the early debate involved the fated climbers themselves. They were making queries about a winter climb on Hood and what gear to take and what to leave behind.

Put simply, "light and fast" means using the least to achieve the most, keeping a pack light enough for a quick summit and return, staying exposed to weather and altitude as little as possible. It can mean taking merely a single day's worth of food and fuel (critical in melting snow for water) and little extra clothing other than what is worn.

The light-and-fast philosophy is nothing new, and many expert climbers say it has saved more lives than it has cost. The Mountaineers outdoors club offers seminars on the subject. Climbing books extol its virtues.

It is now such a standard way to approach alpine climbing -- as opposed to once-popular, everything-but-the-kitchen-sink expedition style -- that the discussion has distilled to how light a climber can go.

But in the effort to shave weight, climbers sometimes allow little margin for error, said Christian Beckwith, a former editor of American Alpine Journal and an author of books on climbing.

"The light style is relatively accepted in Western climbing, simply because it is easier," Beckwith said. "You accept the risk in order to minimize the (weight) discomfort.

"But there might be sliding scale of how light you should go and how good you are."

That scale was at the heart of the debate that surfaced on the message board cascadeclimbers.com in the months and days preceding the Hood tragedy.

Before the accident that would claim his life, Jerry Cook -- using his message board avatar "Fuggedaboudit" -- found himself in a debate with some local climbers who asserted that by the nature of his queries about a planned Rainier climb, he likely didn't have a clear grasp of that scale. (Many of the postings have since been removed.)

One person, rather than sending answers, sent him photos of rescues instead.

Cook's response: "Finally, just wanted to say that when I ask for route conditions on this site, I really don't think you need to post photos of helicopter body recoveries instead of telling me whether or not the snow bridges on Carbon were still solid last mid May, which is what I was looking for when I asked for info, not 'people can get hurt or die doing this.'

"I think this site is a great resource for information but am really turned off by someone anonymously parenting me to 'climb the mountain on her terms not yours.' You don't know me, I don't know you. The difference is, I keep my mouth shut."

Jim Nelson, owner of Pro Mountain Sports in Seattle, listed Cook among his customers. Considered the primary local gear destination for the orthodox go-light crowd, Pro Mountain is known for its obsessive customers, called "gram geeks" -- alpinists who spare no detail in order to travel ever lighter, even if it means removing tags from
clothing.

Also an author of a couple of Cascade Mountains climbing guides, Nelson cautioned that going light hardly isn't unsafe. In fact, he said, it generally is much safer. The type and amount of gear a person takes depends on their experience and risk assessment.

"But people do get sucked into it," he said of minimalist climbing. "It can get you in trouble, if you can't weather a storm. In the right hands, though, it can get you out of trouble. You can (by moving quickly with little weight) reduce your exposure to altitude."

Gauthier, the Rainier ranger, said that to the inexperienced climber, particularly in the fickle Cascades, that line can be hard to determine.

When he is asked what gear to take to Rainier, Gauthier automatically assumes that the person doesn't have much local climbing savvy.

His heavy response:

"Bring all of it."
Copyright© 2007 by Seattle Post Intelligencer. All Rights Reserved.

Rescuers share in substantial donation from the climbers families and friends

From OregonLive.com
February 18, 2008
"The agencies and volunteer groups involved in a massive search for three missing climbers on Mount Hood in December 2006 will share about $90,000, courtesy of a Texas fund that had been established to help the climber's families.

Rocky Henderson of Portland Mountain Rescue said about 30 representatives of the primary search groups -- including Sheriff Joe Wampler of the Hood River County Sheriff's Office and Sheriff Craig Roberts of the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office, along with members of the Crag Rats, PMR and the 304th Rescue Squadron -- were called to a meeting Friday at the Crag Rats clubhouse in Hood River.

"They asked to come to a presentation for a 'thank you' from the family, with the hint that perhaps some money would be involved," Henderson said. But, he said, "we were blown away when we heard how much."

Henderson said the money came from a private foundation in Dallas, Texas, home of 37-year-old Brian Hall and 48-year-old Kelly James."

Webmeister's Note: Jeff Sheets of Portland Mountain Rescue, submitted an initial Report on this tragic mountaineering accident to the American Alpine Club and it was included in the 2007 edition of Accidents in North American Mountaineering along with a spectacular cover photograph of rescue climbers on the Cooper Spur Ridge. The editor of ANAM, Jed Williamson, suggested to Jeff Sheets that this revised Report be offered here in a timely way on this website. --Webmeister Speik

Compare this Report with the earlier Report in your copy of ANAM 2007, available everywhere. Because of the wide spread coverage of this mountaineering accident by an uninformed media world wide, it is important to explain what happened in the most informed way possible to the widest possible audience.

http://www.traditionalmountaineering.org/Report_MtHood_NorthFace_Winter.htm

Read more . . .

ACCIDENTS ON MOUNT HOOD

Mount Hood - Three climbers, their MLU and a dog rescued on Mt. Hood
Mount Hood - Veteran climber injured during ice axe arrest on Mt Hood
Mount Hood - Climber injured by falling ice, rescued by helicopter
Mount Hood - Three climbers die on the North West Face
Mount Hood - Solo climber falls from Cooper Spur
Final Report to the American Alpine Club on the loss of three climbers on Mount Hood in December 2006
Mount Hood - Climbing accident claims three lives -Final Report and our Analysis 
Mount Hood - Notable mountain climbing accidents Analyzed 
Mount Hood - Solo hiker drowns while crossing Mt. Hood's Sandy River
Mount Hood - Solo climber slides into the Bergschrund and is found the following day
Mount Hood - The Episcopal School Tragedy
Mount Hood - experienced climbers rescued from snow cave
Mount Hood - a personal description of the south side route
Mount Hood - fatal avalanche described by Climbing Ranger
Mount Hood - avalanche proves fatal for members of Mazamas climbing group
Mount Hood - snowboard rider dies on Cooper Spur
Mount Hood - fatal fall on snow, Cooper Spur Route
Mount Hood - fatal fall on snow from the summit
Mount Hood - climb shows the need for knowledge
Mount Hood - climb ends in tragedy
Mount Hood - rescue facilitated by use of a VHF radio

MORE ACCIDENT REPORTS 

Lost and Found
Rescue charges in traditional alpine mountaineering
Governor establishes a Search and Rescue Task Force
Oregon Search and Rescue Statutes
Lost hiker in Oregon backcountry found with heat-sensing device in airplane
HB2509 mandates electronic locator beacons on Mt. Hood - climbers' views
Oregon HB 2509 as approved on March 28, 2007
Missing California family found, dad dies from exposure and hypothermia
Missing man survives two weeks trapped in snow-covered car
Missing snowmobile riders found, Roger Rouse dies from hypothermia
Longacre Expeditions teen group rescued from the snowdrifts above Todd Lake
Lost climber hikes 6.5 miles from South Sister Trail to Elk Lake
Hiking couple lost three nights in San Jacinto Wilderness find abandoned gear
Expert skier lost five days in North Cascades without Essentials, map and compass
Climber disappears on the steep snow slopes of Mount McLaughlin
Hiker lost five days in freezing weather on Mount Hood
Professor and son elude search and rescue volunteers
Found person becomes lost and eludes rescuers for five days
Teens, lost on South Sister, use cell phone with Search and Rescue
Lost man walks 27 miles to the highway from Elk Lake Oregon
Snowboarder Found After Week in Wilderness
Searchers rescue hiker at Smith Rock, find lost climbers on North Sister
Girl Found In Lane County After Lost On Hiking Trip
Search and rescue finds young girls lost from family group
Portland athlete lost on Mt. Hood
Rescues after the recent snows
Novice couple lost in the woods
Broken Top remains confirmed as missing climber
Ollalie Trail - OSU Trip - Lost, No Map, Inadequate Clothing

Real Survival Strategies
FREE Clinic on Real Survival Strategies and Staying Found with Map, Compass and GPS together
What do you carry in your winter day and summit pack?
Why are "Snow Caves" dangerous?
Why are "Space Blankets" dangerous?
Why are "Emergency Kits" dangerous?
How can you avoid Hypothermia?
Missing climbers on Mount Hood, one dies of exposure, two believed killed in fall
Missing California family found, dad dies from exposure and hypothermia
Missing man survives two weeks trapped in snow-covered car
Missing snowmobile riders found, Roger Rouse dies from hypothermia
Olympic Champion Rulon Gardner lost on snowmobile!
Lost Olympic hockey player looses feet to cold injury
Expert skier lost five days near resort in North Cascades without map, compass, gps or cell phone
Mount Hood - The Episcopal School Tragedy
Mount Hood - experienced climbers rescued from snow cave
How can you learn the skills of snow camping?   Prospectus

 Your Essential Light Day Pack
What are the new Ten Essential Systems?
What does experience tell us about Light and Fast climbing?
What is the best traditional alpine mountaineering summit pack?
What is Light and Fast alpine climbing?
What do you carry in your day pack?      Photos?    
What do you carry in your winter day pack?       Photos?    
What should I know about "space blankets"?
Where can I get a personal and a group first aid kit?      Photos?

 Carboration and Hydration
Is running the Western States 100 part of "traditional mountaineering"?
What's wrong with GORP?    Answers to the quiz!
Why do I need to count carbohydrate calories?
What should I know about having a big freeze-dried dinner?
What about carbo-ration and fluid replacement during traditional alpine climbing?   4 pages in pdf  
What should I eat before a day of alpine climbing?

  About Alpine Mountaineering:
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  Basic Responsibilities       Cuatro Responsabiliades Basicas de Quienes Salen al Campo
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