A month after a climber was found dead in a snow cave right below Mount Hood's 3,425m summit and the search was abandoned for his two climbing partners, a hardy sense of normalcy has returned to the mountain's climbing scene.
Two breaks in winter storms, including one last weekend, have drawn back many climbers who prefer a winter's snow-blanketed Hood to its gravelly summer form.
Local climbers say they have been humbled by the tragedy, which spurred plenty of discussion about what went wrong on their home mountain. But their desire for the solace, challenge and sense of mortality found on the big, dormant volcano seems to have diminished little.
Pete Guagliardo, who said he had been up Mount Hood three dozen times, has reached the summit twice in recent weeks. He said only the heavy snow accumulation on the north face was keeping him off the route where the three men were lost.
"If the north face was clean right now, I'd be thinking of going up there," said Guagliardo, who lives in nearby Portland.
"It's weird how quickly that feeling subsides," he said about the initial urge to hold back.
Climbers are no longer holding back -- in taking on the mountain and speculating about what went awry on that fateful climb last month.
Guagliardo and other Mount Hood regulars said much of the public discussion after the climbers' disappearance in a howling blizzard had missed the mark.
Too much emphasis was put on the climbers' failure to carry an electronic locator unit, some said, and not enough on their lack of overnight camping gear.
Rescuers have conceded that a locator unit, which sends out a tracking signal, would have done little to help the stranded men, because a week's worth of storms kept rescue teams off the mountain's highest points.
Some of the mountain's most seasoned climbers questioned the decision by the three men to climb with minimal gear in the hope of moving quickly.
One of the lost climbers, Jerry Cooke of Brooklyn, New York, mentioned the group's intentions of going "fast and light" -- as the increasingly popular strategy is known in the climbing community -- on the cascadeclimbers.com Web forum in November; Kelly James of Texas was found without a stove in the snow cave.
"I wouldn't hold it against someone who traveled without a stove, but that's how you make water from snow," said Iain Morris, a member of the Portland Mountain Rescue team, which searched for the three men. "If you don't have a stove, then you potentially don't have anything to drink."
Guagliardo also speculated that the three climbers' decision-making might have been affected by their having traveled a great distance to climb the mountain.
"We've all been there at some point," he said. "It's different when you've put all your eggs in one basket trying to get someplace and are trying to make a climb happen."
Jarod Cogswell and Michael Leming were climbing and marking the day four years ago that Leming and some Portland Mountain Rescue teammates had pulled Cogswell and a group off the summit in a blizzard. Leming was also on the search for Cooke, James and Brian Hall.
Despite frostbite from the last rescue effort, Leming said: "All of the rescuers just love being on the mountain. We get jacked up for rescues and hopefully I'm getting some positive karma from it."
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was