8 Lost Climbers Are Found; Two Cling to Life

Searchers scouring the south slope of Mt. Hood for eight climbers trapped for three days by a sudden blizzard found them huddled in a tiny snow cave late Thursday, and two were still clinging to life.

The victims were taken by helicopter to five hospitals in the Portland area, about 50 miles to the west. A boy and a girl were carried off the mountain conscious and breathing, and surgeons who brought their temperatures back toward normal said they were optimistic that the teen-agers would survive.

Doctors said that the six others were declared dead--one of them a girl with a body temperature of 46 degrees.

Paramedics on the mountain had reported that the survivors’ arms and legs were so frozen they could not get needles into them for intravenous medication. They could get “no response” from six of the victims--four teen-agers and two adults--according to Clackamas County Deputy Russ Williams.

Rescue Took 3 Hours

About three hours after the climbers were found, the last of the victims was rushed to Portland in a helicopter just as the sun was setting.

Earlier, an Air Force helicopter had clattered away from the mountain with the first rescued climber and settled down in a roped-off area of the parking lot at the huge old Timberline Lodge. With hundreds of people watching the dramatic transfer, the victim was carried off the military helicopter on a stretcher.

A nurse injected medication into his chest, and he was loaded aboard a civilian ambulance helicopter, which took him to Providence Hospital in Portland. The transfer took less than two minutes.

When the helicopter landed at the hospital, a 10-member team headed by Dr. Leo Marx swarmed around. The patient was eased onto a gurney, and the team sprinted the 200 yards to the hospital.

Dr. James Asaph, a cardiovascular surgeon, said later that the boy was in critical condition, responsive and moving “but not really conscious.” He said the boy’s core temperature was 72 degrees when he arrived.

“I think we have a fair chance” to save him, Asaph said.

Three 15-year-old members of the expedition had been found nearly frozen Wednesday, and attempts to revive them by warming their blood failed.

Girl Delirious

A teen-age girl brought to Emanuel Hospital Thursday night was “much warmer than the ones they brought in (Wednesday),” Dr. Clark Chipman said. Her body temperature was 73 and her pulse rate 30 beats per minute. She was conscious but delirious, he said.

A normal pulse rate is 72 beats a minute.

She, like the other victims, was placed on a heart-lung machine that heated her blood and brought her body temperature back to normal. Chipman said, “She’s very combative and we’re very, very optimistic.” But he said it would be several days before it can be determined if she has brain damage.

The tiny cave was found at about 5:45 p.m. Thursday. It was only 10 yards from the area where the three victims were found Wednesday.

Pushed Probe in Snow

Master Sgt. Charlie Ek, who found the hikers, said he had been forced to detour to the spot by a crevasse. He said that, when he pushed his probe into the snow, which was four to five feet deep, he felt something soft.

He said he called for other rescuers, and they dug until they found a yellow tarp. Ek said he then pushed his way into the snow cave, where he heard sounds.

“There was noise. They were moaning and groaning,” Ek said. “That’s all we need to hear--life.”

Word by radio that “we have patients” startled the crews at this lodge at the base of the mountain into a frenzy of activity, transporting medical and rescue equipment to helicopters and alerting area hospitals.

Searchers Wouldn’t Quit

A half hour earlier, 17 rescue team members had refused to leave the mountain, asking for additional time because the area they were searching looked promising. “I’d be lynched if I tried to get them down now,” one rescue crew member radioed.

Officials said the eight victims, part of a 13-member hiking party from the Oregon Episcopal School in Portland, were found huddled “on top of each other” in the cave, where the group took refuge Monday from an unexpected “whiteout” that reduced visibility to zero as the hikers neared the 11,245-foot summit of Mt. Hood.

Molly Schula, 17, who with guide Ralph Summers, 30, left the group on Tuesday in search of help for the others, kept a vigil at the rescue headquarters here. She broke into tears and hugged family members as word of the rescue spread Thursday night.

Popular With Climbers

The moody mountain, where weather can change in seconds, is the world’s second most popular glacial peak for climbers, behind Mt. Fuji in Japan. The Forest Service estimates that 10,000 people a year walk to the peak, which dominates the surrounding desert and nearby Columbia River Gorge.

More than 50 lives have been lost on the mountain since the first recorded death of a climber in 1896. The worst tragedy occurred in June, 1981, when five people died.

Oregon Episcopal, an exclusive school of 560 students from kindergarten through high school, has maintained a four-year survival program for 32 years, including the optional climb up Mt. Hood.

Board of Trustees President Joe Connolly, who waited at the lodge here, said the students were well-trained. He said also that the school might adjust its program but has no intention of abandoning it.