lets get together & climb Mt Hood in mid-December

[Buster T]

I mean .......... I'm getting sick of this CNN reporting in a hurry. The whole thing is a disaster.

#1 - not real smart to climb a mtn in dead of winter
#2 - not real smart to go for the summit with a storm coming
#3- if you DO #1 and #2, expect really, really bad consequences

How much time and resources have went into this rescue/search and recovery ?

Now, I sincerely hope the other 2 are alive, I highly doubt they are not, and them dying is a tragedy, but isn't this tempting fate in a big, big way ?

Its not like they were taking a small risk, I'd think this would be really high on the "extremely risky" scale

[Charlie P]

They thought they were as well trained and equipped as you did when you almsot died elk hunting.

Did they know this storm was coming when they started?

Wxtremely bad taste Buster T.

[Buster T]

my elk hunt wasn't high on the risk factor Charlie. Lets examine it and compare if you want to

good season to hunt vs bad, BAD season to climb

fair weather vs brutal weather

along a well traveled path with other hunters, hikers and guides vs virtually alone on a mtn top

the chances of all 3 of us elk hunters being in danger was slim to none, all 3 mtn climbers were in it together as the storm approached


Vast difference

well equipped means a radio and weather forecast, right ? didn't each have a watch that told barometer etc for weather forecast ? I've kept up with this, read up on it some ......... its reccommended to climb Hood April-June because of ?? Weather.

I can't believe they didn't know the storm was coming, thats why they went light and fast. All weather forecasts said big storm, just like they know another is coming on Wednesday.



In poor taste ? I think its not a bad thing at all to analyze things like this. I gaurantee these men dying will save others wanting to climb mtns in the wrong months, they'll think twice because of these men's deaths.

[Champlain Islander]

They screwed up and if they were as experienced as they claimed to be they wouldn't have tried to climb it at such a late time in the season.

[Charlie P]

Alot of people climb it this time of year.

my elk hunt wasn't high on the risk factor Charlie

Sure was after you made a choice to push it past your abilities. You explained to everyone how you were going to do it the"hard way" and it blew up in your face.

Champlain, You ever get out on the ice a little earlier then you should?

[Charlie P]

If you found out they had done this many times and learned it from their father's, I'd wouldn't be surprised to hear you say they should have their 1 month old child with them.

[Buster T]

Sure was after you made a choice to push it past your abilities.

if you want to equate hiking a trail in September to climbing mtn Hood in December ........ okie dokie

You explained to everyone how you were going to do it the"hard way" and it blew up in your face.

You wasn't listening well. We had llamas, it wasn't backpack hunting the hard way like I enjoy.

Not a bad try I guess Charlie, but nowhere near the same kind of thing, is it ?

[Charlie P]

it wasn't backpack hunting the hard way like I enjoy.

It was the first time wasn't it? This was before the lamas.It has happened twice right?

[Charlie P]

Cooke, 36, a lawyer from New York, and Hall, 37, a personal trainer who played for the now-defunct Dallas Rockets professional soccer team, are believed to have attempted a descent while James, 48, a landscape architect from Dallas, apparently remained near the summit.

James has the most experience "” 25 years of mountaineering that includes Mount McKinley, the Andes Mountains in South America and peaks in Europe, his family said.

"My brother has been climbing for 25 years, and he would know what to do in a difficult situation," said Frank James. "He's been in a number of situations and always managed to get out well. I think that's a testament to his experience."


Sounds like weather moved in on them quickly. Happens all the time.



Kelly James and his two colleagues are thought to have climbed the north face of Mount Hood and reached the 11,239-foot summit late in the day of Friday, and then tried to descend the gentler south face, passing through a rock and ice formation known as "the Pearly Gates," Wampler said.
"They didn't find it," he said.


Frank James said it wasn't clear from his brother's four-minute cell phone call whether he was injured. His brother did appear to be feeling the effects of the cold and said he was worried about the weather, he said.

Hall does four to five climbs a year and spent months preparing for his latest trip, said Frederick Stephenson, owner of Performance Playground, a gym where Hall works.

"This trip was to serve as practice for Everest," Stephenson said.

[Charlie P]

if you want to equate hiking a trail in September to climbing mtn Hood in December ........ okie dokie

They were very experienced,proably seemed as easy as hiking a trail in Sept. or feeding a 12 ft croc with their baby in their arms.