Stranded Mt. Hood climbers found safe

TIMBERLINE LODGE, Ore. — Rescuers on snowy, wind-whipped Mount Hood found a party of five climbers today who had been stranded there overnight.

"They appear to be doing okay," said Kathleen Walker, who is with the U.S. Forest Service and working with the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office. "We are rehydrating them, and will be assisting them down the mountain."

Another party of two on the 11,235-foot mountain southeast of Portland also was reported missing but came down Sunday, authorities said. The two, Greg Dausman and Keith Pearen, are students at Oregon State University.

The five found climbers left at about 3:30 a.m. Saturday and were expected to return that evening. But they lost their way due to whiteout conditions, Walker said, and found themselves near steep cliffs instead, where they stopped and dug a snow cave.

Search and rescue teams were in contact with the five via cell phone, Walker said. The climbers also had a mountain locator unit with them, which allowed rescuers to zero in on their location.

"They were a little cold, but they were about to walk out on their own," said Marty Johnson of Portland Mountain Rescue.

He said the five were out of their cave and packing their gear when rescuers arrived. "We helped them pack and got them out of there, there were some pretty nasty conditions," he said.

The five, who headed for home, were identified as David Byrne, 35, and Jim Brewer of Portland, Bob Pelletier of West Linn, Jared Cogswell, 31, of Tigard and Keith Campbell, 44, of Lake Oswego.

The climbers were with the Mazamas, a Portland outdoor and mountain climbing club.

Because of the elevation, rescuers were unable to use a helicopter to get to the climbers.

Mazama president Dave Sauerbury said Sunday evening that a Sno-Cat was sent to bring the climbers to Timberline Lodge at the 6,000-foot level of the mountain.

"I think they’ll be pretty wrung out after their ordeal and they’ll have to go through medical evaluations to be sure they have not suffered any ill health effects after their exposure," he said.

An Air Force Reserve helicopter went down with six crew members aboard during an attempt to rescue a group of climbers on Mount Hood in May. Three climbers died in that accident, another six climbers were injured and the six people aboard the rescue helicopter were injured.

About 10,000 people try to climb Mount Hood each year, but usually only a few hundred to about 1,000 or so attempt it in the winter, officials said.

On average, one to three climbers die on the mountain each year, Walker said.