Wilsonville Spokesman Online

Lost climbers remain a mystery, searchers say

County search and rescue team members talk about what happened on the mountain

• By: Michelle Te  
• Published: 12/22/2009 10:42:42 AM

The long search
Scores of search and rescue members, decked out in cramp-on boots and skis, ice axes, riggings and personal safety equipment, scoured Mount Hood for days in search of the three missing climbers. The body of one climber was recovered; the other two remain missing.

For those involved in the rescue efforts of three lost climbers on Mount Hood last week, there definitely was a sense of urgency. But as the days wore on, and only one hiker had been found, the urgency transitioned to a sense of despondency as searchers knew it was unlikely they would find anyone alive.
 
“When you’re looking for a live person, there’s more of a sense of urgency, you go above and beyond, you want to render that aid,” said Clackamas County Sheriff’s Sgt. Sean Collinson, who is assigned to the Wilsonville police department.
 
Collinson is a member of the sheriff’s office search and rescue team. He spent two days on Mount Hood, meeting briefly with the family and assisting his team where needed. r />  
The search for three missing hikers resulted in the discovery of Luke Gullberg, who experts say died from exposure to the elements. The other hikers, Katie Nolan and Anthony Vietti, were not found.
 
Collinson said the searchers, most specifically Portland Mountain Rescue, found both single footprints and tracks from three hikers in the snow and followed them as far as they could.
 
“He was found laying in the snow,” Collinson said of Gullberg. “He had an abrasion on his elbow, like he’d taken a fall, but not a significant one. People at the scene said there was a ‘debris field’ at the point where he landed. He had probably walked about 200 feet.”
 
Searchers hoped to find the other two climbers nearby and devised various theories about what happened.
 
“The best guess is that the other people in the party had become injured and he was making a hasty trip down the mountain to get help,” Collinson said.
 
Reid Glacier, where the hikers had been, “is a pretty technical area at this time of year,” he continued. “There’s quite a bit of snow and it’s risky. There’s a couple old-time glacier with a huge ice risk.”
 
The glacier, he said, has a layer of snow on top with a sheet of ice underneath, on top of more snow. With enough weight on top, the glacier can break apart and sheets of ice will come tumbling down the mountain.
 
Members of the search and rescue teams are well-equipped with cramp-on boots and skis, ice axes, riggings and personal safety equipment, said Collinson. They are assigned to teams and search in groups.
 
“They never just go off solo,” he said.
 
Collinson has been on the search and rescue team for 10 years. He also actively assisted in a Mount Hood rescue that brought down a helicopter several years ago. But this most recent rescue attempt reminded him most of a search he did in Hood River County a few years ago.
 
“It’s eerily similar to that one,” he said.
 
In that search, one person was found, but the other two hikers remain missing. The search lasted for two weeks, with rescuers aided by some good weather. Collinson was the liaison for the sheriff’s office with Hood River County.
 
One of the things he’s learned is that searchers must weigh the risks versus benefits in continuing a search operation.
 
“You’re putting people into potentially dangerous situations,” he said. “You’re dealing with human life, so you have to wait for a safe time.”
 
On Mount Hood this last week, Collinson said there was a huge avalanche risk.
 
“There is a lot of snow that you don’t typically have at this time of year, and it covers up dangerous spots. You could have thin ice over a crevasse. There also were storms coming, with a potential whiteout. Or, you could fall in a hole, lose step and fall off a rock face.”
 
On any given day, Collinson said there were 30-50 searchers on Mount Hood, looking for the lost climbers.
 
On his second day there, the sergeant took over managing air operations.
 
“They didn’t find anything that gave us real hope,” he said. “If they fell into a crevasse, the chances are that we won’t find them. If they built a snow cave, and they were giving off any kind of heat ventilation, our Flir device would have picked that up.”
 
At the end of the day, the effort remained a mystery for all involved.
 
“There’s a lot of people that have never been brought back down from the mountain,” he said. “We may get answers to some of these mysteries someday. We will continue to search for the missing hikers, and it will also be a good training exercise.”
 
Collinson gives credit to Portland Mountain Rescue, Mountain Wave Emergency Communications and the Oregon National Guard, among others.

“Those guys are the real heroes, and they certainly deserve the recognition,” he said.

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