Ice, ice baby

The alarm went off this morning so I could get to Crossfit, but once hubby heard the reports of black ice on the road he asked if I had to go. Since I was going to be the only one at the garage gym this morning, I decided to go back to sleep and wait until later in the day. Most school districts in the area are running two hours late, too. I was also supposed to go climbing, but hubby wants me to wait until traffic dies down. Guess I'll take advantage of the extra time and write!

The December 2006 tragedy on Mount Hood led me to write my last manuscript. I heard on the radio this morning that two climbers are missing up there. They were supposed to return on Monday afternoon, but didn't. Their car remains in the Timberline parking lot. Portland Mountain Rescue members got the page last night, but the weather up there has the search on hold.

Sunday was gorgeous on the mountain. As we were driving home from Chuck E. Cheese, Hubby and I stared at Mount Hood, surrounded by clear blue sky, talking about how we should have been up there skiing. Today, snow is blowing sidewards and it's 10 degrees. Bad, bad conditions. It just shows how quickly things can change up there.

Someone posted on the climbing forum that the climbers were going to be ascending the Leuthold Couloir and descending the south side. When I first started writing my Mount Hood story, I was thinking of using the Leuthold Couloir route, but I later decided, after talking to PMR members, to not go with an avalanche scenario and have an accident occur on the Reid Headwall instead.

I have no idea what happened to these two missing climbers. There hasn't been much information released yet, but lets just say what I've heard so far is eerily close to the opening scene in Rescued by the Magic of Christmas. I just hope these climbers are okay and make it safely down the mountain. Please say a prayer for them. Thanks!

Update: If you want to know more, check out this article from The Oregonian.

Update 2: The climbers have been found and are safe! See Oregonian link above for full story.