Body found on Mount Hood

HOOD RIVER, Ore. – Rescuers looking for three missing climbers on Mount Hood found a body Sunday in the area where one of the climbers made a distress call last week, authorities said.

“We have found one deceased at this point,” said Pete Hughes, a spokesman for the Hood River County Sheriff’s Office. He said the body had not yet been identified.

The victim was believed to be one of the three climbers who went missing near the 11,239-foot summit of Oregon’s highest peak a week ago, authorities said.

The body was found in a second snow cave near another such cave where rescuers found a sleeping bag, ice axes and rope, officials said.

Rescuers were coming off the mountain early Sunday evening, said Capt. Mike Braibish, spokesman for the Oregon National Guard.

“We remain hopeful,” Braibish said. “We are going to still collect information and pursue the rescue of the two other climbers.”

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

The search for the two others will resume today, he said.

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, another spokesman for the 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 snowfall 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.