Saturday, December 16, 2006

Near our "home" in Oregon

Grim weather plagues Mount Hood search
COOPER SPUR, Ore. -- Searchers looking for three lost climbers on Oregon's Mount Hood are just hoping for a break in the weather.
Helicopters, aircraft and cell phone tracking technology have been helping with the search, but wind, snow and ice have hampered rescue efforts.

Today's plans call for two staging camps on the north and south sides of the mountain so teams could head to the summit quickly if the weather breaks.

Winds near the summit today are likely to top 100 mph before easing, and daytime temperatures above 10,000 feet are forecast to go below zero.

On Sunday, a "ping" from the cell phone of one hiker tracked him to between the 10,000- and 11,000-foot elevations when he made a four-minute call to his family.

Weather predictions indicate searchers won't be able to get near where that hiker is thought to be until the weekend at the earliest.

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