Mt. Hood

I've never been to Mt. Hood in the winter. For that matter I've never been there any other time of the year but I have done a fair bit of hiking in the Sierra Nevada mountains during all seasons. I've watched the attempts of the various agencies involved in the rescue attempts over the past week. It saddened me to see the language change from rescue to recovery.

I'm a member of the local Search and Rescue group myself. When I first heard about this story I thought these guys were crazy at best for attempting such a climb in December. As time went on and we found out more and more about them it seems that, other than bad timing, these guys did just about everything by the book. I empathize with the search teams. I've been on the extended search in less than optimal conditions. I know what it feels like to really want to find a subject, preferably alive. The feeling that comes over a searcher when a search changes to a recovery is one of loss and , to a certain extent, failure. These thoughts get even more glum when the subject isn't located. It's truly a heartbreaking feeling.

My hope is for the best for the teams as they continue to search. The families need some type of closure.