I am so sick of people intentionally doing things to endanger themselves and then placing other people’s lives in danger when they need to be rescued. Year after year, the men and women on the various Mount Hood rescue teams have had to put their lives in danger to rescue so-called experienced men and women from Mount Hood. Currently, rescuers are looking for 2 climbers. There were three climbers in the group, but one has already been found dead. Unfortunately, the rescuers have to place their own lives in danger to try to rescue these ridiculous people. Why do I call them ridiculous? I call them ridiculous because death is no stranger to people who climb Mount Hood. The cases of people dying in bad weather during the winter are well documented. There are even bodies of some victims that have never been recovered. If you know that you are going into an area where people routinely die in winter, why go up there?

Maybe it is me. Maybe I’m too ignorant to understand. Maybe I’m too thick to figure this out, but I think that you shouldn’t try to climb Mount Hood in the winter due to the inherent danger from sudden winter storms, avalanches, ice and freezing temperatures. Most of all, you shouldn’t place the lives of other people in danger just because you want to climb Mount Hood in winter. I wish that there was no help available for these people. I know that sounds cold, but I think it would cause some of them to think twice about the choice they are making and possibly take a different path. This is the real world and it is absolutely unacceptable to be so selfish that you would willingly climb a mountain and then expect other people to risk their lives to rescue you. This isn’t something anyone HAS to do! You don’t HAVE to climb Mount Hood in winter!

I hope that the two climbers currently stuck on the mountain are found in time, but regrettably I think they won’t be. I just hope that their story and the stories of so many others will serve as a cautionary tale for those looking to climb Mount Hood. If not, there will likely be more deaths and more rescuers putting their lives on the line. Climbing Mount Hood in the winter is very stupid. Placing someones life in jeopardy because you want to climb a mountain is very, very stupid.