Explorer Scouts from Washington County found a pile of equipment July 21 that had been stashed in December 2006 by three climbers — two still missing — at the Tilly Jane Warming Hut.

Hood River Chief Deputy Jerry Brown said the scouts noticed that boards were askew in one corner of the shelter. They pulled the loose wood away from the wall — and discovered items that would have helped keep Brian Hall, 37, Jerry “Nikko” Cooke, 36, and Kelly James, 48, warm during a winter storm.

“Everything that would have helped them was right there,” said Brown.

The cache of gear included: three sleeping bags, foam pads, waterproof bivouac bags, a stove, shovel and a first aid kit. Brown said the equipment was linked to the climbers by a prescription bottle for altitude sickness medicine that had Brian Hall’s name on it.

“They intended to make a rapid ascent while the weather conditions looked ideal, and then the storm dropped on them,” he said.

About 130 people participated in the July 21 effort to recover the remains of Hall, who resided in Texas, and Cooke, a New York resident. The body of Kelly James, also from Texas, was found inside a snow cave at the 11,000 foot elevation several days after he was reported missing. An autopsy determined that he died from hypothermia.

Brown said the trio set out from the warming hut, where they had spent the night, on the morning of Dec. 8. They had stowed about 30 pounds of gear behind the boards for later retrieval. Their snowshoes were found by searchers in the vehicle they had parked at the Cooper Spur Trailhead, about three miles below the shelter.

A severe winter storm began that day as the men were working their way up almost vertical ice walls. Within the next six days, Brown said about 15 feet of snow was dumped on the mountain. In spite of blasting winds and frigid temperatures, Hood River’s Crag Rats and other searchers scaled the icy slopes in an attempt to find the missing climbers.

Brown said several pieces of equipment, such as two small ice axes, were found near the snow cave that Hall and Cooke must have hollowed out for James. He said it is possible the two men were blown off the mountain by the high winds. They might also have slipped and fallen about 2,400 feet to land in or around Eliot Glacier.

“We needed to search the lower elevations first just in case they had made it down their planned emergency route,” said Brown.

He said even the summer weather conditions on Mount Hood impeded the July 21 recovery effort undertaken 12 search teams. High winds coupled with cloud cover forced some climbers to return once they had reached 8,900 feet.

“Mount Hood can promise the most favorable conditions in the world. But it seems to have a mind of its own,” said Brown.

He said volunteers working near the tree line were able to cover their assigned areas.

They used GPS units purchased with grant dollars to pinpoint their coordinates. That information was relayed to Incident Commander Chris Guertin at the Cloud Cap Inn base camp. He then mapped out the terrain that had already been scouted in preparation for the next search from Sept. 7-9.

Brown has requested help from the military and several dog teams for that operation. The search along the Eliot and Newton-Clark glaciers has been planned to coordinate with the Oregon Mountain Rescue Council’s annual training on Mount Hood.

According to Brown, climbers from that group who are specialized in high-level searches will take the lead that weekend.

He said Hall and Cooke were wearing brightly colored jackets so their remains should be clearly visible — unless they are located in a crevasse or under a snow drift.

Brown will ask the Air National Guard to survey fissures in the ground to ensure climber safety. He also wants to deploy a sonar device on any remaining snow banks that is used by the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center. The equipment detects “anomalies” in underwater depth readings and could prove useful for finding objects buried under a snow drift.

Meanwhile, Sheriff Joe Wampler is taking to the air in a search plane during the summer months. He is not only looking for the remains of Hall and Cooke, but two other men who vanished on Mount Hood.

Kenneth Budlong, 45, a Nike executive, vanished in white-out conditions while climbing on the northwest side of the mountain in September 1995. Raoly Orsi, 24, on a horticulture exchange from Hungary, disappeared while on a day hike in 2001 above the Tilly Jane campground.