HOOD RIVER, Ore.-
Authorities abandoned efforts to find two missing climbers alive on Mount Hood at the request of the climbers’ relatives on Wednesday, and said they would now be looking for their bodies.
“We’ve done everything we can at this point,” said Hood River County Sheriff Joe Wampler.
“It was pretty much their (the families’) conclusion,” he said.
“The chance of survival is pretty nil,” Wampler said. “I don’t think I can justify putting any more people in the field with the hope of finding them alive.”
As weather permits, officials will look for the bodies of Brian Hall and Jerry “Nikko” Cooke, he said.
Their climbing partner–Kelly James–was pulled out of a snow cave on Monday. For three days, volunteers and helicopters scoured the mountain in hopes of locating signs of the two others alive.
In one last attempt, Wampler piloted a Piper Cub over the mountain on Wednesday, looking into a report by snowshoers of a yellow tent in a snow field. He said it turned out to be a rock.
His announcement ends a dramatic nine-day search on the rocky crags of Oregon’s tallest mountain that began on Dec. 11.
The search effort had already been scaled back significantly.
During the height of the effort, scores of volunteers, helicopters and other aircraft had searched the mountain, first looking for live climbers, and, after James’ body was found, for signs the two others were still alive.
By Wednesday, the effort had been reduced to Wampler’s flight over the mountain.
Earlier in the week, Wampler said the two men may have fallen over a precipice or been buried by an avalanche, but until Wednesday he repeatedly said he wasn’t giving up.
He had held out hope that the two may have found shelter in a snow cave. But mountaineering experts said that even if they did, they could be dead of hypothermia.
