GOVERNMENT CAMP, Ore. — A cloud bank hugging the flanks of Mount Hood frustrated the air search for two missing climbers Sunday, a day after their companion was found dead on a glacier on Oregon’s highest mountain.
Rescuers had to bring in a helicopter and airplane to conduct the search because new snow had created avalanche dangers for crews on foot. Skies had cleared Sunday morning, but the weather worsened again and the mountain became shrouded by a low cloud during the afternoon.
The search aircraft — a helicopter and a fixed-wing airplane — returned to their bases. At nightfall, search crews ended operations for the day with plans to evaluate options this morning, said Jim Strovink, spokesman for the Clackamas County sheriff.
“The weather, that’s what’s hampering this operation,” Strovink said.
The three climbers — 26-year-old Luke T. Gullberg, 24-year-old Anthony Vietti and 29-year-old Katie Nolan — had begun their ascent on the west side of the mountain about 1 a.m. Friday and were due back that afternoon, but failed to return.
On Saturday, crews found Gullberg’s body on the glacier at the 9,000-feet level. Authorities said he was from Des Moines, Wash.
His equipment also was found scattered around the glacier, including a camera with at least 20 photos of the climbers. Crews have looked over the photos for landmarks and other clues to the location of the two missing climbers — Vietti, of Longview, Wash., and Nolan, of Portland.
“It looked like they were confident and having a good time,” Strovink said of the photographs.
After 8 inches of snow fell on the 11,249-foot mountain overnight, avalanche dangers in the higher elevations Sunday made a rescue mission on foot too risky. Still, officials had not given up hope that Nolan and Vietti, called experienced climbers, could be found alive.
Strovink said he didn’t think the climbers had a shovel, which could be used to build a cave to keep them out of the elements. But, he said, “They were well-equipped otherwise.”
The Oregonian newspaper reported Sunday that Gullberg was a sales clerk at the outdoor retailer and cooperative REI in Tukwila, Wash., and he studied writing and English at Central Washington University.
“He was very adventurous,” Stacy Cleveland, his cousin, told the newspaper. “He did a lot of hiking and climbing and things a lot us would never attempt.”
Relatives of the climbers were at Timberline Lodge, a ski lodge on the flank of Mount Hood and a staging area for the rescuers, to await more news. The Associated Press
