Climber's Photos Dim Rescue Hopes

Search Scaled Back After Photos Found On Mount Hood Show Insufficient Supplies

(CBS/AP)  Photos found with the body of a climber found on Mount Hood showed supplies only for a quick climb, increasing worries about whether his two missing companions could survive more than a week in the brutal environment, authorities said Tuesday.

Rescue teams had scaled back the ground search and are asking themselves whether they are "spinning their wheels" by continuing the search for Brian Hall and Jerry "Nikko" Cooke, Hood River County Sheriff Joe Wampler said.

"The big search is over," he said.

CBS News correspondent Jerry Bowen reports that with the last of the military helicopters sent back to their home base, just two fixed-wing airplanes are looking for signs of the missing pair.

Kelly James' body was retrieved from a snow cave near the 11,239-foot peak on Monday. The search for Hall and Cooke had been narrowed to a small section on the dangerous north side of Oregon's highest peak, but up to 10 feet of snow have fallen there since the three men were reported missing Dec. 10.

The sheriff said two airplanes were being used Tuesday to keep watch on that area of the mountain, and avalanche search experts would probe the snow with long poles in hopes that the missing climbers may be hunkered down in a snow cave.

The surveillance would allow the "opportunity for Brian and Nikko to stick their heads up out of their hole and rescue themselves. We want to be there to see that, if that happens," Wampler said.

James, 48, who had a dislocated shoulder, made a cell phone call from his cave on Dec. 10, telling his family the party was in trouble and the others had gone for help.

The sheriff said the other climbers must have had to dig a second, shallower cave of their own on a steep slope as the weather worsened.

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Photos: Search For Oregon Climbers

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The place below the second cave is called "the gullies," with a 60-degree slope and a treacherous 2,500-foot drop-off. About 13 climbers have died in the area in the past 40 years, Wampler said.

Wampler said the search for Hall and Cooke will continue for now as a rescue effort, not a recovery operation.

A new storm is forecast to hit Wednesday night with wind gusts up to 50 mph, and five inches of new snow in an area that's already been covered by 10 feet since the two disappeared, Bowen reports.

"If they did not get in a hole somewhere, we might be beyond survivability periods," Wampler said. "You can last a long time in a hole. So we are looking for a hole."

Family members are still hoping for a miracle.

"Our faith in the strength of the minds, bodies and spirits of Nikko and Brian remain steadfast," said Brian Hall's sister, Angela Hall.