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 PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - It starts with mumbling and stumbling. Then come violent shivers and then, paradoxically, a false sense of warmth that makes some people strip their clothes off. Eventually, they may curl into a fetal position as their muscles go rigid, their skin goes waxy, and the heart slows down, then stops. Whether two climbers missing on Mount Hood for more than a week are still alive is not clear.
But if they are somehow still hanging on in the brutal cold and howling winds, perhaps hunkered down in a snow cave, they may be going through what veteran climbers say is a slow, dispiriting assault on both mind and body.
"We are approaching that time when we have to make serious consideration whether we are spinning our wheels," said Sheriff Joe Wampler, who is overseeing the search-and-rescue.
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