Officials say chances are slim that missing Mt. Hood climbers are still alive

Officials believe it is unlikely that the two climbers missing since Friday on Oregon's Mt. Hood are alive, reports Oregon Fox Television affiliate KPTV.

An authority on mountain survival spoke with family members of the missing climbers Tuesday and told them that the possibility of Katie Nolan, 29, of Portland, Ore., and Anthony Vietti, 24, of Longview, Wash., surviving conditions on the 11,249-foot mountain for this many days is exceedingly slim.

"Unfortunately, in this case, time is no longer in our favor," Terri Schmidt, a Oregon Health & Science University hypothermia expert, said later at a news conference. "What we know is after 48 hours, the chances of finding someone alive after that go down to about 1%."

Rescue workers are still on standby, but whiteout conditions and the risk of avalanche made any search effort impossible Tuesday and unlikely in the coming days. 

Portland Mountain Rescue team leader Steve Rollins said it would take four or five days of good weather to ease avalanche danger, and such weather on Mt. Hood at this time of year is unlikely.

"If there is anything we could do, we would do it," Rollins said at the news conference. "We will go to extreme lengths to rescue people, but we have to come home at the end of the day."

The Northwest Weather and Avalanche Center still has the avalanche danger listed as high, with the following analysis and forecast for Mt. Hood:

"The current snowpack conditions have all the makings for sensitive avalanche releases. The cold dry weather experienced over the past week caused significant near surface faceting and weakening of and near the prevalent crust layers in the upper snowpack. 

"Added to the current avalanche recipe was shallow amounts of cold low density snow received intermittently prior to the current snowfall, as well as some existing surface hoar layers. Therefore we now have generally 4 to 8 inches of weak snow poorly bonded to a crust that has now been loaded with 1 to 2 feet of increasingly dense snow affected by warming that fell overnight Monday and early Tuesday....

"Briefly decreasing rain or snow is expected early Wednesday along with some cooling. This should allow for a slow decrease in danger. However renewed rain or snow Wednesday afternoon and night should maintain mostly unstable snow at all but the lower elevations."

--Kelly Burgess

Photos: Climbers Katie Nolan, top, and Anthony Vietti, bottom, are still missing on Oregon's Mt. Hood. Credit: Clackamas County Sheriff's Office

Related:

Severe weather may halt search for missing Mt. Hood climbers

Poor weather, avalanche danger hamper search for missing Mt. Hood climbers

Comments

[tangyang]

I still think about the two missing climbers from time to time. I prayed for their safety and families. I have bee looking for update news on them and hope for a happy ending. Were Anthony and Katie ever found?

[Mark Meshak]

I wish the best for the two remaining climbers!

[Do not wanna reveal]

So many memories of what happened three years ago on the same mountain. Kelly, Brian and Jerry lost their lives. I hope that God will provide a miracle and allow these two people to be found alive. God can work miracles. He can clear the weather. He can make it so that they can somehow let people know they're okay.

I really hope that they will consider enforcing a rule prohibiting climbing in the winter. Everyone knows that Mt Hood is only supposed to be climbed in the summer time. I guess they wanted to train for something bigger or something. That's what Kelly and Jerry Nikko Cooke and Brian were doing.

Everything about this case reminds me of the 2006 disaster.

All these people were Christians, they are all experienced, a camera was found on the body of the one climber, bad weather is hampering the search. It goes on and on the similarities of the two cases.

But, I really hope that these two people will not be two more victims of the mountain. Hopefully the mountain will release them and allow them to be found.

[Times]

hopefully they will be found alive

[Gabriel]

Psalm 27:5

"For in the day of trouble he will keep me safe in his dwelling; he will hide me in the shelter of his tabernacle and set me high upon a rock."