One climber was found deceased on Saturday. Results of the autopsy announced today state that while he did fall, he actually suffered relatively minor injuries from the fall and died of hypothermia afterwards. Speculation is that the other two may have had an accident farther up and that the deceased climber was on the way down to get help. Portland Mountain Rescue thinks the other two may be holed up in a snow cave up there. The weather was excellent when they went up and stayed excellent during the time they would normally have been out (they planned to be back by 2 pm Friday). However, starting Saturday the weather has deteriorated. Avalanche danger up there is now extreme due to new snow on top of icy layers. Another foot of snow is due to fall up there tonight which will make things even more dangerous.
The most horrible thing about this, IMHO, is the proliferation of really hateful comments in the online news media. One TV station (KATU) has disabled the comment feature on their news stories about this accident, which I really appreciate. The families are of course devouring anything in the media and these totally uncalled-for-comments really hurt!
Latest local news story. Portland Mountain Rescue statement. (NOTE--this worked this afternoon but the site appears to be down right now)