Three years ago three climbers were lost on Mount Hood near Portland, Oregon trying to climb the mountain in the winter. They found one body. The other two bodies were never found and are presumed dead. Now just five days ago another set of three mountain climbers tried to climb Mount Hood in the winter time and are missing. One body has been found, the other two climbers are still missing. According to today's paper there is less than a one percent chance that the remaining two climbers will found alive if found at all. Due to severe avalanche warnings and dangerous weather conditions the rescue teams haven't been able to conduct a ground search for the climbers. Both group of climbers, the ones three years ago, and the ones currently missing were/are "experienced climbers." Why is it that it is always the experienced climbers that end up missing?
Mount Hood isn't anywhere near as tall as Mount Everest or numerous other mountains and maybe that is why climbers get overconfident with it. However, what makes Northwest mountains treacherous is there is often rapid changes in weather conditions. The temperature can drop thirty of forty degrees in a matter of minutes. During the winter there can be gusts of winds up to one miles an hour near the top of the mountain. There are some reports is that is what happened to the remaining missing climbers from 2006, that they were blown off of the mountain.
MLU. Remember those initials they mean "mountain locator unit." How much does one cost? You can rent one for five dollars at the lodge at the base of the mountain before you begin your climb. It sends out a beep that helps rescuers pinpoint where you are. Cell phones are nice but sometimes you can't get a signal, sometimes they get wet and quit working. Two way radios? Not enough range. The mountain locator units won't guarantee that you are found but they certainly increase the chances that you will be. Neither the set of climbers three years ago or the set climbers now lost on Mount Hood had an MLU. Three years ago a state representative proposed a law that would require climbers that climb Mount Hood to have an MLU. It was narrowly defeated and one of the reasons it was defeated was mount climbing organizations were against the proposed law. Quoting a position statement from one of the rescue and climbing organizations "contrary to what might seem common sense we believe that mandating beacons actually increases the risks for both climbers and rescuers." They are afraid climbers would feel more comfortable and take more risks if they had an MLU than the would take without one. In my humble opinion that kind of rationalization is going to lead to another here we go again and another search for missing climbers. Another family agonizing while their relatives are searched for. Another wife without a husband. More children without a mother or dad. More parents without their sons or daughters. More lost friends. If I were a climber out of respect for the mountain, out of respect for my friends, out of respect for my loved ones I would spend the five dollars and take an MLU with me. In the words of the famous song often sung during my youth, when will they ever learn my friend, when will they ever learn.
If you decided to climb a mountain would you us an MLU? How would you pass the time as your husband, wife, son, or daughter were missing on a mountain and it was just to dangerous to go look for them? Should it be legally required of climbers of Mount Hood to carry a mountain locator unit? Should winter climbing of Mt. Hood be banned? My heart just goes out to not only the missing climbers but for their family and friends also. I so hope that they are found and found alive. Miracles do happen. Let's all pray for a miracle.
You can read the latest about the missing climbers here:
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2009/12/treacherous_conditions_stall_s.html
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8 comments:
No point in banning climbing - they'll do it anyway. Seems like anybody with an iota of common sense would carry an MLU, but.....
We deal with search and rescue stuff around here all the time - from fallen hikers, white-water kayakers/canoeists, folks lost in the mountains. IMHO, those rescued should be billed for and expected to pay for the expenses incurred in these missions. They cost a LOT of money!
I'll climb on board with Mary Z, right down the line. If I tried to climb a mountain (ha!), you can bet real money that I'd use an MLU. I'd vote for mandating their use.
All the relatives and friends can do is wait, as far as I can see, and it must be a really horrible wait. I'll join you in hoping for a good outcome here.
Hi Mary Z
It boggles the mind that anyone would go on the mountain without an MLU. To me that is just insane.
And you are right, if you banned winter mountain climbing people would still do it. There were some articles in the paper this morning saying winter climbing was safer than summer climbing but I don't really remember that many lost people in the summer.
I think people should pay for their rescue expecially if they went without an MLU.
Bill
Hi Pat
I definitely think the MLUs should be required. The ones that I feel sorry the most are the relatives. There lives are going to change due to no fault of their own. I'd so much want to go on the mountain and look for the relative myself.
And the latest is they have cancelled the rescue operations due to weather, however, they are still calling it a rescue and not a recovery operation.
Bill
When will we ever learn? Some of us, never, obviously. You know, I'd think the more experienced you are, the more you know about climbing and conditions, the more likely you'd be to use an MLU, knowing that conditions can change and that there are no guarantees on what could happen.
I agree with Pat and Mary. Banning winter climbing wouldn't do any good. You can't enforce it. Requiring MLUs should be required. Can it be enforced? I'd think anyone with a brain would check in at the base and therefore have to get one.
I can't imagine what the families must go through, knowing a husband/father/sibling is missing and the rescue operations are sparodic at best, given conditions. All they can do is wait and pray and, I suspect, at certain points curse the idiocy of those who are lost.
I agree folks like this should be reqauired to pay for the rescue operations. That's something few people consider -- when this happens, rescue teams must go out to try to find them and those teams are put at serious risk themselves, due to weather, unknown snow conditions, avalanche conditions and a host of other consierations. While it's rarely "advertised," we lose rescue workers on more than rare occasions, just as we lose fire fighters in forest blazes. Maybe I'm more aware of this, after my time in AK, where we lost rescue workers trying to get folks off of Mt. McKinley or locate hunters who wandered from camp or weren't at the "pickup" site or such. And, while there are costs for the rescue missions, there's also the fact that whole lot of these folks-- from those doing mountain and hunting rescue to those doing downhill and cross country skiing rescue and such -- are volunteers. They're not paid for the hours and days they literally risk their lives to bring someone back safely. That, to me, is one of the key issues in requiring use of the MLUs. Anyone putting themselves in a position where there's the possibility of needing to be found should be required to carry some type of tracking device.
I truly hope this story has a happy ending, but it doesn't sound good, at this point. Having "celebrated" two major holidays after the death of a loved one (neither through stupidity, thank goodness) I can't imagine what the families are going through.
This sort of thing breaks my heart. I can't even imagine what their families are going through right now, knowing it looks terrible, hoping against hope, and not knowing. The not knowing is what would kill me.
I know a woman whose 20 year old son climbed Mt. Baker one weekend and never came home. They never found his body, and it's been 15 years now. She just never got closure. She's a lot more peaceful with it than I imagine I could be.
You better believe if I was doing a climb like that, I'd take an MLU. And my kid would too, he knows there's no way he's going up there without one.
Hi DR
It is now a recovery mission and the climbers are presumed dead.
You would think the more experienced you are the more likely you are to use an MLU but it works just the opposite. The less experienced climbers are the ones most likely to use the MLU.
The rescues here aren't as expensive as you might imagine. The military use the rescue missions as training exercises, to the helicopter is basically cost free. The search and rescue is either volunteers are paid employees already on duty. It is the emotional cost that bother me. To the remaining relatives and friends. I would be all for putting up the pictures of the climbers that lost their lives on Mount Hood at the base with a notation, "they didn't use an MLU" and under the notation more pictures. These of relatives that the dead climbers left behind, with another notation, "this is what you relatives will look like if you are lost"
Mount McKinley rescue missions would no doubt be more dangerous then Mount Hood's.
My heart goes out more to the relatives and friends left behind than it does the climbers. What a tragic holiday season it is going to be for them.
Bill
Hi Mary
It breaks my heart oo. When the climbers are never found, like the ones in 2006, and now it looks like these two, the not knowing really never goes away. How tragic is that? I am afraid I would go up every summer to look for them.
The MLU is just common sense, to bad people don't think they need it.
Bill
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