By RAELYNN RICARTE
News staff writer
July 6, 2007

Hood River County Sheriff Joe Wampler will soon have searchers combing the north face of Mount Hood to find the remains of two missing climbers.

About 100 searchers are expected to scout along the tree line — the 6,000-7,500 foot elevation — on Saturday and Sunday, July 21 and 22.

Two higher elevation searches are planned later this summer when avalanche danger has lessened. The first event will be Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 18 and 19, and the second on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 7-9.

“This is still our responsibility. There are people out there and we want to round them up and give their families some closure,” said Sheriff Joe Wampler.

He is unsure whether the families of Brian Hall, 37, of Dalles, Texas, and Jerry “Nikko” Cooke, 36, of Brooklyn, N.Y., will be present during the weekend searches.

The body of the third climber, Kelly James, 48, was recovered last December in a snow cave near the summit of Mount Hood. The three men had stated their intent to ascend the canyons along the north slope, cross the summit and end up at Timberline Lodge. They wrote those plans on notes left inside their vehicle near the Cooper Spur trailhead and at the office of the Hood River Ranger District.

“We’re going to go first with the thought that Mr. Cooke and Mr. Hall did make it down to someplace along the Cooper Spur Route. They knew their friend, Mr. James, was in trouble so they probably had a high sense of urgency to get down and get help,” said Chief Deputy Jerry Brown.

He said Hood River County’s Crag Rats will take the lead role in the search. Requests for help have also been sent to Portland Mountain Rescue and other groups who braved fierce winter storms more than six months ago to look for the missing men. The staging area for operations will be Snow Shoe, a shelter that is near Cloud Cap Inn, used as a base camp last year, but is much larger.

“This will be an excellent training opportunity for these climbers. Although the places we will be searching are hazardous, the summer weather is making the risk acceptable,” said Wampler.

Brown said James was found at the 11,000-foot elevation with little in his pack. So, searchers are also going to be on the lookout for gear the men might have stashed near the Tilly Jane Warming Hut where they spent the night of Dec. 7.

Brown said the recovery of these items will provide clues about what happened before James was found dead from hypothermia. In a last telephone call to his family on Dec. 10, the Texan relayed that he was injured and Cooke and Hall had left him in a snow cave and gone for help.

Brown said tracks around the snow cave indicate that some type of accident limited James’ mobility. However, the Office of the State Medical Examiner could not find any sign of broken bones or a dislocated shoulder that might have impeded his ability to climb.

Searchers found several pieces of gear near James’ body that would normally have been used by Hall and Cooke. These items included one glove, two small ice axes, a rope and a sleeping pad.

In late December, Wampler said it was possible the two men were either blown off the mountain by high winds or fell off the steep and ice-covered slope. Brown said, if that happened, their bodies are probably buried under snow in or around Eliot Glacier, about 2,400 feet below the site where James was found.

That area cannot be searched by humans without undue risk until later this summer. However, Brown is arranging for some high-tech help: He wants to deploy a sonar device used by the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center. The equipment detects “anomalies” in underwater depth readings but has not yet been tried in rugged terrain.

The gear will be brought on an experimental basis from California by Matt Bergert, program manager. He will attempt to locate anything made of metal or with unusual density beneath the snow pack.

The sheriff’s office is also using a $1,000 grant from Wal-Mart and $1,200 from reserve funds to purchase GPS units to aid searchers. Brown said the satellite-based navigation devices will allow climbers to pinpoint the areas they have covered and map out the coordinates to prevent a duplication of efforts.

He said the Army National Guard is being asked to provide searchers with air and ground support. Dog teams are also being brought to the mountain to pick up any unusual scents.

Wampler said there are actually four people that have been reported missing on Mount Hood in recent history. He is hopeful the remains of Kenneth Budlong, 45, and Raoly Orsi, 24, might also be located.