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News Conference on Search for Climbers Missing in Oregon

Aired December 18, 2006 - 12:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: That was back in 1963. We're going to ask Jim Whittacker about the addictive lure of the dangerous sport.
And it's back into the space suits, an unplanned forced space walk takes place during out watch today. CNN's resident space (INAUDIBLE), Miles O'Brien joins us live to talk us through today's mission. All that and more, straight ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM, 1:00 P.M. Eastern.

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: All right Kyra, we'll be watching, thank you. And, as we said, we have a news conference coming up in just a few minutes here now. Hood River County, Oregon, we expect from authorities there. You see the microphones all set up. Waiting for the very latest information on the search for the missing climbers.

Chris Lawrence joining us now. Chris, we know that that search goes on. They are still calling it a search and rescue effort for the two remaining missing climbers.

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's rights. They feel that Brian Hall and Jerry Cook are still out there. And some of the rescue workers that I have spoken with say, they are still operating under the premise that there's a chance that those two may still be alive. While you look at the time that they've been out there, some people would say, well, on a clear day like yesterday, with all that activity going on around the mountain, with helicopters buzzing, a C- 130 circling the summit, and those rescue teams out there, why wouldn't they come out and make themselves known.

Well, I asked a rescue climber that and he said that's true. They should have, if they were mobile. But he says he's also had rescues where the people were still alive. They just weren't physically able to signal. And it's things like that, combined with the professionalism and the experience level of some of these climbers that is still giving them hope that they can find those other two climbers alive.

COLLINS: And Chris, talk to us a little bit, briefly, as we wait for the news conference to begin, about the footprints that were found. We know there were two sets leading in opposite directions.

LAWRENCE: That is somewhat of a mystery, about that first snow cave that they found. They did find two sets of footprints. One leading down, in almost like an aimless circle, the other leading up to the summit. There's all kinds of speculation as to what that could be. If it was multiple people, if someone, perhaps, wondered out of the cave. They can't really tell right now, but they are concentrating in that area, in trying to track those footprints to a general area, where they can try to see if it leads into one of these routes that they know that climbers typically take when they ascend and descend that mountain.

It's a huge area up there, but a lot of these climbers are very experienced, in that they know certain routes that the climbers would take and they can concentrate on those routes. Right now, there's a number of climbers just getting ready, assembling their gear just a few feet away from us. They are waiting for the helicopters to arrive here and then they'll be going back up on the mountain. One of the things that I've noticed, just in the last hour, we thought this was going to be a very clear day. It's not turning out to be quite as good of a day as we thought. Nothing like yesterday. A lot of fog, a lot of clouds.

It is much more overcast than we saw yesterday, when that bright blue sky was just really lighting up the mountain and giving them very clear visibility over some of those areas that they want to hit, especially near the summit, which is where they found those snow caves yesterday and where they're going to be concentrating their search today.

COLLINS: Yes, and Chris, you know, it's interesting to think about, we forget, in the midst of all this, the topography of a mountain. Obviously, the smaller area at the top. It widens at the base. And therefore, even though some of these footprints were aimed downhill, where you think they might be able to have a better chance to get some help, that just makes the search more vast. There is more drainage. It actually becomes a bigger and tougher area, in some respects, for searchers to be looking.

LAWRENCE: Not only that, but you have got, you know, days and days of one of the fiercest storms in the last four or five years, you know, really playing havoc with some of the tracks and normal trails that would be left behind. You know, again, they knew that Kelly James was up there, hunkered down, near the summit, on the north side of the mountain. And when he called home to talk to his family, they pinged his cell phone. They had it narrowed down to a general area where he was. It was just that extremely bad weather, that storm, that kept them from getting anywhere near him until just this weekend.

COLLINS: All right, Chris, sorry to interrupt, but we do have somebody coming to those microphones. Let's go ahead and listen in.

MIKE BRAIBISH, OREGON NATIONAL GUARD: There was a lot of information that came out yesterday, a lot of activity. The search continues. Now, to make sure we get things in the proper context for you, Hood River County Sheriff Joe Wampler is here. He is the decision maker about what we're doing. He's leading this search effort. He's going to take that information that we gained yesterday and tell you how we're going to use that today to continue the search and recovery efforts. Sheriff?

SHERIFF JOE WAMPLER, HOOD RIVER CO., OREGON: Morning, everyone. As you all know, the weather was great, so we launched the mission to the summit of Mount Hood, dropped a hand-picked climbing team, up to six members of the 304th Air Rescue Squadron, out of Portland, and two members of the Portland Mountain Rescue Crew, and two members of Grab Grass (ph) were air lifted to the top of Mount Hood, safely let off there to investigate some equipment that had been seen there.

The result of that search was that they found two snow caves just below the summit of the northeast side of Mount Hood. One of those caves was empty, and the other one had the body of someone in it. So, as a result of that, what we're going to do this morning, same thing. We're going to put a crew in a helicopter, put them back on the summit. We have got about a 500-foot ceiling above us this morning, but it's clear and bright above 2500 feet. And so we can get out and get up there to the mountain this morning, as soon as the helicopters get here. And we're going to do that.

Yes, we're real sad about one of our results, but we still have two missing climbers. We're going to keep looking for them. Our search has narrowed from totality around Mount Hood, to basically the area in which they found the caves. And now the area directly below that. I have to tell you that the area directly below that is an area on the mountain between the Elliott Glacier Head Wall and the Cooper Spur Route. The area between that commonly known as the Gullies. It's a 60 percent, 2,500 foot fall there. You know, there's been a lot of avalanche snow activity in that area. It's too dangerous for us to put ground crews in there and probably will be over a period of time. It's just one of those places this time of year.

So, while the rescue climbers are trying to do the recovery this morning, we're going to keep doing an air search in that area. Maybe we'll get a glimpse of something, but we're going to try. The lower area -- we have been searching the lower areas, down around the timberline, tried to put a perimeter around the mountain, but we're not getting any results. So, we're really, kind of -- I mean, this thing is narrowing down to a place. And so we're going to keep looking there. And really, that's all I have for you this morning.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sheriff, are people frustrated, a little bit, after such -- there were so many highs yesterday, with the possibility of the cave, and someone being inside, and then finding a second cave, and, of course, the body. And then after the body was found, there was really no more signs. There were no more footprints found. No more gear found. Is that frustrating for your people?

WAMPLER: Oh, yes, it's real frustrating. You know, we don't like big mysteries like this, that last a long time, but a lot of things have happened over the last two nice days. That has told us that we have got a huge amount of information out of that opportunity, and really, it's narrowed a lot of things down. As a result of that, we have got so many people, you know -- we virtually got four management areas that are fully manned, clear around Mount Hood. As a result of what we're doing, and narrowing and narrowing down this search, it's going to take less and less people and resources, and that's a help to the volunteers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sheriff, are you going to remove the body today, and if so, when and how? WAMPLER: That is our plan. Now, the state's helping us with the aircraft to move our people, so that they can get up there and evaluate the danger of removing the body. But it doesn't mean the aircraft is going to move the body. They're just going to get our people up there. Excuse me, right here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Looking at the two snow caves, can you surmise anything about what went on. Is this one climber moving into two caves?

WAMPLER: This is what we surmise what happened on top of Mount Hood. We think that the three climbers left Hilly Jane and climbed as far, as we can tell, because of their conversations with people on the mountain, that they climbed what would be the Right Gully to the summit of Mount Hood and that they actually summited. When they got to the summit of Mount Hood, it looks like they -- and this is where we're guessing now, because of footprints -- it looks like they went south along the summit ridge of Mount Hood, maybe looking for the entrance to the Pearly Gates, which is the route back down that they had planned on doing. Somehow, because of weather, probably, and visibility, they didn't get down there.

They were right there at the top of it, but instead, they broke off the east side of the mountain, all three together, dropped down about 300 feet, straight above the Newton Clark Glacier, about 300 feet below the summit, dug a cave that probably housed all three of them on the Friday night. From there, and probably Saturday morning, it looks like two of those climbers left that cave, went back to the north, just below the summit ridge, back to -- their intention was, in case something went wrong, that they were going to descend the Cooper Spur Route, which is virtually right next to the place where they had climbed up. But now the weather is getting bad and it's pretty obvious, because they were having to dig in, and do those things.

So now we have got two climbers, working their way back to where they came from. And now you're talking a point on top of a mountain that can go anywhere. Well, virtually, because there was an anchor with a snow cave, and more like a shelter. It wasn't a good snow cave like the first one they built, where the body is now. It's another one, it's more like a place that they cut out of the snow on a steep hillside to work from, because it had an anchor right there. It had two aluminum snow anchors driven into the snow, with snow webbing, which, kind of, told -- only told us that while they were there, they put something in the snow so that they could clip in and be safe, because there's two slings coming off that, which kind of indicates that two people used their carabiner to clip in to the rope, for the purpose of just being stable on a steep slope on a mountain.

At that point, there were some ice axes found there, two short handheld ice axes. They were both exactly the same, so we can assume that that was probably the property of one climber. Right there was a little piece of foam sleeping pad. There wasn't a sleeping bag there. It was a little foam pad, something to sit or lay on, and then one wool glove. There was a piece of rope there, and so we can only assume that that was the last known location of two of the climbers. Right above one of the most -- I mean, historically, we have had a lot of problems in this area in the event of a fall. And that's really what we're looking at today. And it appears, because of the anchor, that they probably -- and I have got to be careful here, because there was an anchor, and the anchor can only mean either that they had stuck an anchor, so that they could clip themselves in place, but I can't say positively -- this is one of the things that they're going to do today -- that they went down from there.

It's the top of all these chutes. They may have gone up from there. But I know that at some point, they were standing there, clipped into something, probably because it was so windy there. I mean, this is a really steep, dangerous place on the mountain. And there was some conversation in the cell phone call on Sunday from Kelly James that the descent back down the area that they had climbed because impossible. That's where they ended back up, at the place where he had mentioned that that's not the place they wanted to go back to.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sheriff, can you verify the name of the body that you found?

WAMPLER: I cannot. Who we have up there -- there's a lot of circumstantial evidence, based on clothing and all this other stuff, but I cannot say who we have until I see him down here. That way, you know, we can do the normal identification process, because we haven't been in his pockets. I will tell you that the body that we do have did have a cell phone on him, but it was full of water, melted water, and it doesn't work. So, you know, we're being very careful to dry that out, so that we can get the information that was on it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sheriff, what is the plan now? Obviously, as the hours move on, the likelihood that the two other climbers are alive diminishes pretty considerably. Where do you go after today? I mean, at the end of the day today, if you don't find anything, do you scale back or do you continue on the way you're going?

WAMPLER: Well, we can scale back a lot. Because we have narrowed the area down, now I don't need all of these people to be doing all these other things. But we're still going to concentrate. The problem with the area that we really want to look at is, again, we have had small avalanches and snowfall all week long. The condition that is going to make that safe for us to be there is that it actually gets a little wet in there and then freezes, and then stabilizes the whole slope.

You know, we have talked about all of the ideas that we could go in there and do a little avalanche control, maybe throw a few explosives around in there. But I don't think we want to do that. Because all we're going to do is cover up where we want to look. And then, if that's really the scenario, that we have a couple climbers under the snow there, we're just going to hold back.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sheriff, you're saying that you have had some problems with people falling?

WAMPLER: Excuse me.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why isn't the C-130 going up again?

WAMPLER: I don't think it is.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why not?

WAMPLER: Oh, well, we don't need it. I think we have used that electronic surveillance for three days. We have done some testing in what we get from that, and really it doesn't penetrate the snow caves real well. I mean, it will get stuff on the surface, works great there. I mean, we use it to find our own people, but a person in a snow cave is pretty hard to penetrate with infrared.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You said you have had problems with people in the past falling from that area. I assume that's what you're looking at right now, possibly the two climbers fell from that area.

WAMPLER: Yes, because our investigation down below hasn't revealed they have walked out, we're still thinking that. But we're narrowing the likelihood that there may have been an accident.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, is it a recovery mission, now instead of a search mission?

WAMPLER: We're still looking. You know, there could be that hole. Because the hole that the body was found in was covered up. I mean, it was an excellent job on the searchers' part to even find that. But there could be a vent hole there someplace. That's what we're -- you know, we're going to keep looking for that. And how we're doing that is not only visual, but you know, we're taking pictures. We're taking video. And you know, that's a huge thing, to be able to go back and look and professional people that know every nook and cranny of that can look at that and tell if there's anything out of place, like what happened when we found the equipment. Excellent job, I mean, the guys that found that thing, is a needle in a haystack, but they knew what they were looking for, those little anomalies, out of place. So that was an excellent spot on the behalf of the air crews.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If the bodies fall down, you know, if they're covered, in other words, you will go in there in the springtime?

WAMPLER: No, I'm not going to wait for springtime to get these guys out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But if they're buried?

WAMPLER: No, the second the slope stabilizes, and it's safe for us to be in there -- Right now, Elliott Glacier is a mess. It's just an unsafe place to be. But the minute things stabilize, and we can get in there with electronic detectors, probes, we will do that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sir, we're talking about finding a body in a trail that has a sheer drop off. Can you give us some sense of how (INAUDIBLE)

WAMPLER: Step up here and say that a little closer. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're talking about a body found and the trail that leads to a sheer drop off. Based on that flood of very recent information, after a week of hope, can you give us a sense of the families (INAUDIBLE)

WAMPLER: On behalf of the families of all these climbers, they're a mess. Just imagine yourselves waiting to hear some news. Yesterday was very disappointing. I mean, the whole idea of somebody being able to survive in a snow cave is what's been keeping them going all this time and me and all of these guys here. I mean, they're going 100 percent all the time, just in case that didn't turn out. I mean, you know, we failed them. We literally failed the, but, you know, we tried our best. I know that. We had the best people in the best places. But there's still a chance, because of that issue right there, and we're going to keep going because of it, for the other two.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sheriff, the license in the body that you discovered, was there any obvious trauma to the body?

WAMPLER: That's what we're going to try to do. I think what we would like to really know is what -- why did this guy that we found in the snow cave stay behind. I think it's important for us to, you know, once we get him down here, look him over. The medical examiner's office here is standing by, ready to do that. I think, you know, the fact -- was he injured? A lot of those factors need to be looked at.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And could you kindly, for those who are unfamiliar with a snow cave, describe the first and second snow cave. How large are they? Are they chipped out of ice or is it just like soft snow. Describe what it is and how many bodies could fit there, how deep into the snow is it?

WAMPLER: The first -- Your guys were there. Do you know want to describe what that snow cave -- do you know that?

BRAIBISH: I don't know that.

WAMPLER: OK, the first snow cave, where we believe, once they summited, they worked their way down the ridge, dropped over, probably dug that because it was late in the day, or whatever, visibility. But it was big enough, probably, for three guys to stay in, which is not very big. They spent a lot of time digging this thing. I mean, they kind of got below a rock where the snow had got behind it, so that they could find soft stuff, so they -- and the snow right there that's digable is probably, maybe, three feet deep, and then it turns to, kind of, solid ice underneath that snow.

So, they dug through the snow, got into the ice up next to this rock, and so it's something that three people would have to cram themselves into. They kind of dug it up, uphill, let their hole down low, and just like you have seen all week long, that's how they dug their snow cave. Now, it was just big enough for them all three to crawl into, which would have been the right thing to do, so they're all up against each other. So it wasn't very big, but you could tell that they had spent some time doing it, and probably with a shovel. I mean, it wasn't something they were digging out with their ice axes. We're guessing that they actually had a shovel with them and dug it out with a shovel.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- rescue teams last night were talking about how disappointing it was to find the body. But, at the same time, in their preliminary investigation, they felt that he had been dead for maybe a couple of days, which helped them a little bit, in the sense that they knew they couldn't have gotten to him, because of the weather a couple days ago.

WAMPLER: Yes, no, you know, we would have liked to have got there right after he made the call on Sunday. And, you know, had a chance to be in there, but boy we tried. Oh, we tried. I give these guys all that credit. They tried so hard. In fact, they tried harder than I was willing to risk them. But just couldn't get it done. It was just too bad.

(INAUDIBLE)

WAMPLER: You know, I think we have been probably more worried about the other two since day one, the ones that went for help, because there's no word from them, zero. And one of those was the strongest climber in the group, which meant, kind of, meant from day one, they had the best chance to get out, because they were up and moving, but they haven't been seen anywhere, big problem. But since the best climber in the group was there, I don't know, maybe the best chance still exists.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why don't we take a quick pause here while the helicopter lands.

WAMPLER: And then those Chinook Helicopter is out of Pendleton, Oregon.

BRAIBISH: The sheriff is going to step off here so he can get back. Now that the air crew is here, he's going to coordinate the climbing team and the air team activities, and sergeant -- excuse me, Captain Chris Bernard, who has become a familiar face here, he can tell you, after that helicopter is down -- he can give you a scope of what is happening with the ground operations.

BRAIBISH: In order to get focus back on operations, folks, I think we'll take about another five minutes. We'll go ahead and talk.

(INAUDIBLE)

CAPT. CHRIS BERNARD, U.S. AIR FORCE: This is Captain Chris Bernard with the 304th Rescue Squadron. I want to just give you a general outline of the plan today. It's going to be similar to what you saw yesterday. The para-rescue man, Crab Rats (ph), PMR team will be inserted, via the Chinook helicopter from Pendleton, on the summit of Mount Hood. That portion will be the recovery operation, and the para rescue men in that team will attempt to bring down the body again and extract. The search rescue mission also continues. There's going to be members on board the 47th that will be conducting a search in the primary areas and there's also going to be the 10-42nd helicopters, also participating in this search. Do you have any questions?

(INAUDIBLE)

BERNARD: When you hear the helicopter land on the summit, I estimate probably within 30 minutes, they'll be at the location of the body. They have some anchors and things that they left in place, in anticipation of doing this operation. The teams will move out immediately and what they're going to do is the Haul System, like the five to one Haul System, that will haul the body on the summit and then they're going to make their extraction plan there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: With the clouds and the weather change, how close will your helicopter be able to get to that one area that you're looking at now?

BERNARD: The weather report we have is that it's clear and sunny up there. So, where we need to go is clear.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How was the body left?

BERNARD: The body was left in the position it was, the position found.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No one stayed on the mountain?

BERNARD: No one stayed on the mountain.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have a question about the signal found. Anything unusual about (INAUDIBLE)

BERNARD: I was not involved in the investigation of the equipment last night, so I don't want to comment on that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you describe the gullies and what kind of danger really is (INAUDIBLE)

BERNARD: It's quite a large area. The danger primarily is the new snowfall and what we have had is the avalanche area, and then, of course, just the typical hazard of the gullies. They're a fall zone, you know between 40 feet and 80 feet down.

Primarily, it's mostly visual. We anticipate such good weather that just eyes on the ground.

QUESTION: What margin of an error are we talking about, one square mile, two square miles?

BERNARD: Well, as the sheriff said, we focused down. Actually it's on our map. I don't know the square miles exactly, but we have a great search area that we're just going to scour today.

QUESTION: Between the gully and glacier and what other feature?

BERNARD: I'm not sure about that. I'd have to look at the map. I want to be clear on that.

QUESTION: Do you know what the elevation is where the gully is?

BERNARD: I'm estimating it's around 7,000 feet.

Right, that is one of the areas that we're intensively searching.

QUESTION: Considerably lower?

BERNARD: It is lower, yes.

We are also following up other leads with the tracks, and then, you know, the primary routes that climbers would be coming down.

QUESTION: Can you talk about the odds of survival for those men up there? They've been up there for quite some time right now. What's your experience?

BERNARD: Well, my experience in this business is we hold out hope. You know, I had the opportunity to sit in on Schneider, one of the people who survived for 13 days in a snow cave, and it was really encouraging to hear that survival story, and it re-engaged me to definitely believe there's hope.

QUESTION: What sort of -- the sheriff said the first cave large enough for three guys, larger, well built. The body was found in the second cave that was more hastily built. Is that correct?

BERNARD: I'm not sure about that, sir. I can't comment. I'm not sure. I'm not trying to not comment. I'm just not sure.

I do believe that the also the ice axe, and the inslide pad (ph) and some gloves and hats.

QUESTION: Was there equipment in the second cave that the body was found in?

BERNARD: You know, I'm not sure of those details, so I'm not going to comment on that.

Outside of which cave was this rope system set up?

BERNARD: I believe it was between them. You know, it was kind of between them. As the sheriff described, it's an anchor point and could be used to tie in, and so they don't fall off. And also, it can be used to rappel down. Anchor points are used for many points.

That is what the searchers on the 47, and the air crew and the pararescuemen first found. There are climbers up there. They recognize that shape, they recognize that gear, and eyes on target there.

No, it could have been there from day one. The mountain, the snow, and what not. It's just, the wind, some snow falls and the wind blows it away the next day. So it's difficult to anticipate or articulate for sure that aspect.

QUESTION: What kind of manpower is in the crews? BERNARD: For the military, we have air crews on three aircraft. And then pararescuemen, we have approximately, myself, there at two combat rescue officers, and six pararescuemen, and a couple of PMR and Kragrats (ph). There's also ground teams standing by on the south side and at cloud cap.

QUESTION: About 20, maybe?

BERNARD: I'd say more like 25.

The Chinook is the double-bladed helicopter you see over there.

There are actually three helicopters that we have here. One of them is coming in now. The one that you see coming in now is a UH-60 Blackhawk. The dual-rotor helicopter is a CH-47 Chinook. These are airframes that are familiar with doing these operations. These are airframes that have been used in wartime.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On a UH-60 right now, what we have -- onboard our UH-60s we have five crew members. You have your pilot, the copilot, a flight engineer, and we also have two medical personnel onboard. And I again I want to emphasize the point that we still consider this a rescue operation at this point, with the additional mission of supporting recovery.

The crews that are onboard these helicopters, they are veteran crews that have worked these mountains. They have seen combat duty in Afghanistan. They are working with experienced climbers from the 304th, working with experienced climbers from the volunteer groups. You know, we've got a wide set of skills here, a wide set of experiences that are coming together to support this mission.

QUESTION: Captain, will there be a 2:00 press conference again?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, we'll follow up with a 2:00 press conference, and we may have something for you here from another spokesperson in a few moments.

COLLINS: All right, let's talk a little bit about what we've just listened to here. We most recently listening to Captain Chris Bernard, in charge of air and ground operations. Here is what is going to happen, as we have also learned from the Sheriff Joe Wampler (ph), from River County, Oregon, in the case where two missing climbers are still out there. They are still calling this a rescue mission, but it is two-fold. They will be going up in that CH-47 Chinook helicopter you have just seen on the screen to bring down the body of the man they found in the second snow cave.

But the two pictures you saw on the screen you saw moments ago, Brian Hall, Jerry Nikko Cooke, apparently still out there, and they are looking at that as the recovery portion -- excuse me, rescue mission they're going for today.

The crew is going back to the summit by helicopter, 500-foot ceilings there, though, are beginning to concern the rescuers. We're going to talk about that in just a moment. We learned about the gullies. It's a 2,500-foot fall, and we heard from the sheriff, they're concerned that there could have been some type of accident where the other two may have fallen into this area that has caused quite a bit of concern and has been dangerous in times past, this portion of the mountain, very, very difficult to maneuver, especially because of the new snowfall and the avalanches. It's too just apparently dangerous to put crews right directly into that spot.

I want to go ahead and bring in CNN's Chris Lawrence, who has been covering this story.

So, Chris, they're going up there not only to bring down the body, but also to look for the two remaining missing climbers.

The weather to you, Chris, how does it appear to look?

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the weather down here looks fairly overcast and foggy, but we heard the sheriff say that is bright and clear above that 2500 foot mark, so apparently, the weather is better as you get higher up the mountain there.

One of the things that jumped out at me, he said they're still holding out hope, but the search is definitely narrowing. He said they are primarily now only concentrating on the area around which they found the two caves on Sunday, and an area directly below that that you mentioned, called the gully, that has that 2,500-foot drop at about a 60 percent grade. The sheriff said there's been a lot of avalanche activity in that area and it's too dangerous to put a ground crew there now or really, as he suggested, at any point around this time of year. You have to remember the normal climbing season for this mountain is between May and July. The sheriff admitted he doesn't like mysteries, that they do want to find these two, but that there is a problem if it gets down into that area. That is an area where we have had people fall before. And at this point in the year, it would be very difficult to get actual people on the ground there to get an eyeball on it.

COLLINS: All right, Chris Lawrence, thanks so much for that. We know you've been right there all along with this story so we appreciate it.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COLLINS: We want to get back to "YOUR WORLD TODAY" for now reminding you there's a 2:00 p.m. press conference coming up on this remaining search for the two missing climbers. Mt. Hood, Oregon. I'm Heidi Collins.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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REP. JEFF FLAKE (R), ARIZONA: We unanimously believe, the ten of us, that the United States should respond positively to the proposal made by Raul Castro in the speech of December 2nd. WILLIAM DELAHUNT (D), MASSACHUSETTS: In fact, we believe that this is a moment exactly, exactly, the right moment for dialogue. You can see that dissent is alive and well in America.

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JIM CLANCY, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Well, those are the observations of two members of a bipartisan U.S. Congressional delegation that traveled to Cuba. The group believes that a change in Cuba's leadership, however temporary, should lead to a thaw in U.S./Cuba relations.

COLLEEN MCEDWARDS, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Earlier this month, Cuba's interim President Raul Castro said Havana was willing to talk with Washington about improving relations, but even talking would be a huge change here.

Welcome back. We are seen live around the globe.

CLANCY: This is YOUR WORLD TODAY. Washington maintaining an embargo on trade with Cuba now for more than 20 years. The two countries have not had diplomatic relations since 1961.

So, what does the delegation hope to accomplish? Well, Joining us now from the American heartland Jerry Moran, he's a House Republican. He's a member of the House Committee on Agriculture. He was part of that delegation that traveled to Cuba. Thank you so for being with us.

I think overall, before we start talking trade and everything else, what did you hear about Castro? The rumor today is -- well the statements today coming out of Havana indicate that he is not terminally ill, but he is not going to return to full official duties at any time.

REP. JERRY MORAN (R), KANSAS: Jim, I think the answer is we don't know the answer. In fact, we were told while we were in Cuba that the medical doctors treating Fidel Castro are sequestered, are isolated even from their own families. I mean, this is a state secret in Cuba, but it's clear to me that Fidel Castro would not turn the power over to his brother or to anyone else absent some serious health condition.

The question is whether he will recover. Now, Cuban officials they tried in every way to convince us that this is temporary, that the policy isn't going to change, but neither is Fidel Castro. He'll be back, was the story, and he doesn't have terminal cancer, is what government officials told us.

But even if that's true, and I have my doubts about that. My guess is that Fidel Castro is seriously ill. But, even if they are telling us the truth, Fidel Castro is 80 years old. There's an opportunity here for change in the relationship between our two countries, which ultimately can benefit both.

CLANCY: How do you see that because you became interested in Cuba. You sponsored trade legislation all the way back in 2000. You visited for the first time in 2001. How do you see the situation changing that now is the right time to say end the embargo or at least make some moves that way.

MORAN: Well, we have an amendment I offered that has cracked the door in regard to the trade. And we now can sell for cash -- food, medicine, and agriculture commodities. I happen to believe that a ...

COLLINS: We apologize for interrupting programming there. CNN International, but we want to take you live to Mt. Hood Oregon. As you know, we have been following this story for the past week and a half.

Those missing climbers up on Mt. Hood. The latest to come out today, a family spokesman confirming that Kelly James, one of the hikers or the climbers rather, found dead. His brother now, Frank James, stepping up to the podium.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

FRANK JAMES, BROTHER OF KELLY JAMES: ... was found in the cave. In particular, they identified a ring with my brother's initials on it, which has led me and our family to conclude that the climber found in the cave yesterday was my brother. My brother, Kelly.

On behalf of the family, I would like to read the following statement: This is a difficult day for all three families. Our hope is that Kelly, Brian, and Jerry would all be rescued safely, and that has led these families to become very, very close.

We are persuaded that Kelly has been found, but I feel that I have two other brothers still on the mountain and the James family is deeply, deeply grateful for the rescue efforts to date. And we wish -- we wish the rescue workers Godspeed in their ongoing efforts to bring Brian and Jerry down that mountain safely.

We are also profoundly grateful for all of those who have prayed for our families. We find strength in your support, and we join all of you in your prayers for the safe return of Brian and Jerry. As Christians, we find peace that Kelly is with God. Kelly always told us that he felt closest to God when he was on the mountain. That is what drove him to climb, and we find enormous comfort in knowing that he lifted off that mountain from a place that he loved and doing something that he loved very, very much. Thank you all for your support. The family is most grateful for all of that. Thank you.

MICHAELA COOKE, JERRY COOKE'S WIFE: I'm Michaela, Jerry Cooke's wife. I just wanted -- we mourn the loss of Kelly and stand united here with the James family. We extend our heartfelt sympathy to Kelly's children, wife, brother, mother, friends, and extended family who we have all come to know and love as our own. Kelly, Brian, and Nikko shared a passion and reverence for climbing, and the bond forged between them will last throughout eternity. We hold out hope today for Brian and Nikko's safe return.

BRAIBISH: Thank you. ANGELA HALL, BRIAN HALL'S SISTER: For those of you who don't know me, I'm Angela Hall, I'm Brian Hall's sister. And today is a day of deep mourning for my family, as we have lost a very dear part of our family in Kelly James.

Our deepest sympathies go out to his family. And as I said, they are now a part of our family, each and every one of them. Today is also a hopeful day. We sincerely appreciate the efforts and the perseverance to attack that mountain again on behalf of the rescue workers who are attempting to bring our other two loved ones home to us.

We have such deep gratitude for their efforts and we wish them, you know, we would like them to stay safe and stay warm as they're trying to bring our other loved ones home to us. And we just want to let everyone know that the prayers that are with us, they need to be even stronger now because the James family needs our two loved ones, Jerry and Brian, to come home just as much as we do. Thank you.

BRAIBISH: This concludes any comments that will take place. The families will not take comments. Please respect their privacy. We will have -- continue on in our process here this afternoon. We will come back to you at 2:00 p.m. to let you know of any developments that have come along throughout the day.

PHILLIPS: That's got to be one of the toughest things to do for a family member when you find out you have lost your brother. You heard Frank James come forward and then you heard from Jerry Cooke's wife Michaela and then also Brian Hall's sister, Angela. Of course they're still hoping that those two missing climbers will be found, but as you know, we did confirm today that that missing climber found in the snow cave on Mt. Hood was identified as Kelly James, one of the three missing climbers as we've been following this story for the past week and a half.

I guess one of the most positive things to come out of that, you heard Kelly James' brother, Frank James saying, if there's one positive to look at, that Kelly -- they believe Kelly is now with God, and that's what drove him to climb that mountain. He always felt that he was the closest to God when he did that.

Chris Lawrence also there at that live news conference. We didn't expect to hear from the family members so soon, Chris, but boy, Michaela Cooke, Jerry's wife, and also Angela, Brian Hall's brother (sic) both holding out hope that at least those two will be found.

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I think it's obvious that these three men shared a real passion for climbing. I think now these three families who may not have known each other all that well before now are all sharing in the grief for Kelly James, and also in the concern for Brian Hall and Jerry Cooke. Standing there united, holding each other around the shoulders and the arms to support each other.

And again, the brother of Kelly James saying that even though his brother has been lost, he feels like he has two other brothers, Brian Hall, and Jerry Cooke, who are still out there. And those are the two that they are still praying for, hoping that they can be brought down the mountain safely.

PHILLIPS: What do we know about rescue workers now returning to the mountain? Chris, they're set to take off this hour, right?

LAWRENCE: Yes, you can take a look behind me. You can see those were some of the rescue workers we were speaking with earlier this morning. We saw them coming out, loading up on the Chinook ready to go back up on that mountain.

They will be airlifted and dropped off there. Their mission right now is one of recovery, bringing the body down, trying to get the body back down here so that it can be given over to the medical examiner., who may be able to take a look to see if there were any injuries, things that would help him piece together exactly what happened to the three climbers up there.

The sheriff earlier did give us a much better idea of what happened to them. We learned that by the sheriff's estimation, that they did summit the mountain and then had problems coming back down because of the weather. Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, Chris Lawrence. We'll continue to check in with you obviously throughout the next couple of hours on those rescue efforts, and also, if you're just tuning in, brother Frank James coming forward and confirming indeed they found a ring on that body that was found in that snow cave, the thing that belonged to Kelly James, one of three climbers that has been found dead. The other two still rescuers are holding out hope they will find Brian Hall and Jerry Cooke.

We're going to take a quick break. We'll be right back.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES: They identified a ring with my brother's initials on it, which has led me and our family to conclude that the climber found in the cave yesterday was my brother, my brother, Kelly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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