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."
Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw on Friday joined their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in sticking their fists out to show off their glittering World Series rings at a ceremony. “There’s just a lot of excitement, probably more than I can ever recall with the Dodger fan base and our players,” manager Dave Roberts said before Los Angeles rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in 10 innings. “What a way to cap off the first two days of celebrations,” Roberts said afterward. “By far the best opening week I’ve ever experienced. I just couldn’t have scripted it any better.” A choir in the
The famously raucous Hong Kong Sevens are to start today in a big test for a shiny new stadium at the heart of a major US$3.85 billion sports park in the territory. Officials are keeping their fingers crossed that the premier event in Hong Kong’s sporting and social calendar goes off without a hitch at the 50,000-seat Kai Tak Stadium. They hope to entice major European soccer teams to visit in the next few months, with reports in December last year saying that Liverpool were in talks about a pre-season tour. Coldplay are to perform there next month, all part of Hong Kong’s
Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman on Thursday smashed home runs to give the reigning World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over Detroit on the MLB’s opening day in the US. The Dodgers, who won two season-opening games in Tokyo last week, raised their championship banner on a day when 28 clubs launched the season in the US. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shuffled his batting lineup with all four leadoff hitters finally healthy as Ohtani was followed by Mookie Betts, then Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in the cleanup spot, switching places with Hernandez. “There’s a Teoscar tax to
Matvei Michkov did not score on Monday, but the Philadelphia rookie had a hand in both goals as hosts the Flyers earned a 2-1 victory over the Nashville Predators. Ryan Poehling and Jamie Drysdale got the goals for the Flyers (31-36-9, 71 points), who won their third straight. Michkov and Travis Konecny assisted on both. Ivan Fedotov stopped 28 shots to earn his first win since March 1, ending a personal six-game losing streak. Zachary L’Heureux got the lone goal for Nashville. Michael McCarron and Brady Skjei got the assists for the Predators (27-39-8, 62 points), who have just four goals in their
RSS