Unlike Kim, these guys knew what they were doing. It was impossible for them to stay put given the conditions that were thrown at them. They had to find shelter and hope for the best.
You are correct.
They found the snow cave with only some gear then the first body in the second cave. If they had stayed put in the first cave, they would have been found.
It seems in almost all of the cases of death from exposure, the victims would have been better staying in shelter and waiting.
Ha, I know nothing about these hikers/climbers. Just watched the normal news flashes about the rescue mission. I was just trying to get your thread going.
The problem for them was they decided to go ‘fast and light’ but didn’t have the ability or commitment to do the climb fast and light.
the things that don’t add up and put the odds against them:
‘fast and light’ means doing the climb in the minimum time possible. the increased risk of not taking extra food and clothes is offset by lighter packs and increased speed. this only works if you fully commit to the idea and are fit enough to pull it off.
They flew in from texas and NY which means they likely had no big hills to train on and were not sufficiently fit to do the climb fast.
They planned to sleep two nights on the mountain. fast and light means you keep moving till you’re back at the car. This means having the fitness and commitment to climb continously for 24-48hrs.
climbing together means you don’t lose sight of each other until you are back on a trail or at the car. you don’t leave your injured buddy and go for the summit. Self rescue is the only way to go.
But in this case even staying in the snow cave they would likely have died. One of the weather stations in the cascades was reading 135mph right before it stopped working on thurs. night and the temps right after the big storm were below 10F. Staying put would just have made the body recovery effort easier. Some people take cell phones in the mountains for safety but if they hadn’t had a cell phone they may have attempted self rescue and been successful.
Interesting.
I wonder why they thought they could do a “quick” assent on Mt. Hood in December? Surely they had knowledge of the mountain and the past deaths.
Maybe it’s hindsight but it sure seems a high risk to chance a storm coming up in that area.
It seems that there a mentality with some climbers that they don’t have limitations and that taking big risks is acceptable. They need to watch more Discovery channel. After watching these shows, I sure would never go out in the wild without a satellite phone. There is really no excuse, you can even rent satellite phones these days.
Everyone’s tolerance for risk is different. What is unacceptable risk to one is a casual day in the mountains to another. For example, some people spend one or two nights to climb the standard route on Mt. Rainier. They carry a big heavy pack all the way to summit with the ‘10 essentials’ just in case. Others climb it in 10 hours roundtrip with little more than a jacket, a windbreaker and a couple of quarts of gatorade. Who’s taking the bigger risk? the guy spending 3 days on the mountain staggering under a 50-70lb pack or the guy spending half a day with a 15lb day pack.
As for sat phones, climbers are worse weight weenies than cyclists and taking one also assumes that a climbers best bet is to stay put and call for rescue. In the mountains this is often not your best hope for survival.
You are correct.
They found the snow cave with only some gear then the first body in the second cave. If they had stayed put in the first cave, they would have been found.
It seems in almost all of the cases of death from exposure, the victims would have been better staying in shelter and waiting.
My reading of the articles is that the body was in the first cave, the gear was in and near a smaller second cave between the first and their intended route down…they dug the second cave when they had to bivy after leaving the injured climber, and now the autopsy says he died a few days before being found in that first cave, from hypothermia. It seems like they didn’t have enough gear or clothes or fuel to just stay there and keep him (or perhaps themselves) alive pending rescue, they convinced themselves they had to try to take action.
Have you guys considered the threat these things pose?
Did I jump the gun on that?