Relatives of missing climbers hear from doctor about chance of surviving on Mount Hood

Relatives hear about climbers’ chance of survival

GOVERNMENT CAMP, Ore. — With rescue efforts stalled by a heavy snow storm, worried relatives of two missing climbers gathered Tuesday to hear from a doctor about the chances of surviving the extreme conditions of Mount Hood.

Rescuers were clinging to hope that Anthony Vietti and Katie Nolan were still alive somewhere on Oregon’s highest peak, possibly in a snow cave they might have hacked out with ice picks.

But time was running short for the climbers who vanished Friday.

A whiteout expected to dump as much as two feet of new snow on the mountain prevented a helicopter and ground teams from resuming the search. The storm was expected to last until Thursday, threatening to cause an avalanche that could further complicate a rescue.

“It doesn’t look good,” Jim Strovink, spokesman for the search and rescue operation, said about the forecast. “This could hang on for a couple of days.”

Luke Gullberg, a companion of Vietti and Nolan, was found dead on a glacier Saturday. An autopsy showed he suffered minor injuries in a fall and died of hypothermia,

Dr. Terri Schmidt, an expert on hypothermia and mountain survival, planned to speak to the families of the climbers at Timberline Lodge, the staging area for the rescue operation.

Strovink said Schmidt would answer questions about the health dangers faced by Vietti, 24, of Longview, Wash., and Nolan, 29, of Portland.

Intermittent snow and subfreezing temperatures have hampered the search since it began on the 11,249-foot mountain.

Rescuers said they were hoping Vietti and Nolan had managed to carve out a snow cave and were waiting out the storm.

“We are still being very optimistic,” said Steve Rollins, a search leader. “I’ve been in plenty of snow caves in complete blizzards. You don’t know what the weather is like outside.”

Gullberg, 26, of Des Moines, Wash., was found without his pack or the ropes that had apparently bound the group together at some point.

The discovery raised hope among family members that Vietti and Nolan had Gullberg’s safety equipment and supplies after he headed down the mountain for help.