Mount Hood: The Deep Blue Zone

I recently was able to look at a pre-release copy of "Mount Hood: The Deep Blue Zone - Story of the 2006 Climbing Tragedy" by Hubert A. Allen, Jr. The book is a recap of the events on Mount Hood during December of 2006.

If you kept up with the all the news stories, then you probably know most of the story. Three climbers, Kelly James, Brian Hall, and Jerry Cooke attempted a fast and light ascent of Mount Hood on December 7, 2006. On December 10, Kelly James called his wife in Dallas. He said that he was holed up in a snow cave on the side of Mount Hood. The call only lasted 4 minutes before the phone died. After the call, a full search and rescue effort was started to find the climbers. It took 10 days for rescuers to find the body of Kelly James in the snow cave, and Brian Hall and Jerry Cooke were never found.

In the book, the author tries to piece together possible ways the tragic story played out. He spends time trying to explain how the media misinterpreted certain facts, like calling a belay platform a snow cave.

In all, the book was a quick read, does a good job of getting your imagination in tune with what might have happened.

Thanks Matt. I'm gonna have to get that. Interesting that there were at least two more media frenzies about other rescue on the mountain. I'm not sure what bothers me more... all the attention given to the rescues or the fact that two other groups read about the December 2006 incident and didn't learn a thing from it.

[www.amazon.com]

I just hope all the media madness around those incidents doesn't create access issues for the rest of us. I like my winter fun!

Fortunately, the public has a rather short attention span. There was talk for a bit about making PLB's mandatory, still could happen I suppose.

There were letters in our local paper (Northern CA) about needing to regulate access to Shasta. Luckily, there were even more letters from SAR people, climbers and others that told our side.

Interesting to see what happen this coming Winter.