[pct-l] Another lost soul-- My friend John..anyone been near McLoughlin?

[calliger at infolane.com (rjc)]

I am on my way there now with several others to continue the search.
Pleae contact the Sheriff directly if you can aid at all...John was attempting
to climb a reverse cantilever feature (a structure like your nose when you are
lookiing at your toes...you climb the bottom of your nose and go down and out
to the tip and then up the surface of your nose to the summit--hence the
reverse part)...if anyone knows of such a feature (it is not too far from 
the PCT
I **believe** )...please post and call the Sheriff (Tim Evinger)

Thanks,

Richard

<http://www.heraldandnews.com/articles/2005/06/18/news/top_stories/top3.txt>http://www.heraldandnews.com/articles/2005/06/18/news/top_stories/top3.txt


http://www.heraldandnews.com/articles/2005/06/18/news/top_stories/top3.txt


Rescue efforts end on mountain
Zazzara
Published June 18, 2005

Searchers believe a lost climber is at the top of
Mount McLoughlin, but
they have given up trying to get to him.

Daunted by snow, wind and cold Friday, searchers
assumed that John
Vincent Zazzara, 54, of Beaverton, is dead. He's been
missing since Sunday.

"This effort is no longer a rescue effort," Klamath
County Sheriff Tim
Evinger said. "It's a recovery effort. ... The
probability of survival
is low."

He said there are no plans to resume the search until
the weather
improves, perhaps early next week.

Zazzara is believed to have gone to the summit alone
for a rock climb,
but rescuers couldn't get there, or see it from
aircraft.

The volcanic peak is 9,495 feet tall. At 7,500 feet,
searchers were
"literally about to get blown off the mountain,"
Evinger said.

At about nightfall Friday, a U.S. Army National Guard
Blackhawk
helicopter from Pendleton abandoned its efforts.

Evidence in Zazzara's car and reports from his friends
suggested he
went off the main trail to the summit to attempt a
tricky climb up a
backward-sloping cliff, Evinger said.

"His hiking stuff is in his car, the technical stuff
is gone," the
sheriff said.

Friends told authorities that Zazzara is an
experienced climber who
could handle technical routes. Climbers call routes
that require ropes and
other gear "technical" to distinguish them from easier
hikes.

Zazzara was described as a quick climber who goes
light, with minimal
equipment.

"He does it in less than half the time of most
people," Evinger said.
"He doesn't take much with him - it is just up and
back."

Friends said Zazzara liked climbing McLoughlin and
nearby Mount
Thielsen.

They recalled that he was interested in a cliff near
the top of
McLoughlin, but hadn't left behind specific
information about this trip,
Evinger said.

Searchers spent most of Friday battling the weather. A
low pressure
system brought in snow and wind. Temperatures dropped
into the 30s and
then the 20s.

On the ground, more than 30 searchers, afoot, riding
horses and using
dogs, combed the woods below the mountain's
timberline. Personnel came
from the Klamath and Jackson county sheriff's
departments and the U.S.
Forest Service.

The chopper came late in the day as the weather
grounded a Cessna 185.

Zazzara works at Intel and missed work Monday through
Wednesday. His
employers called a friend, who alerted authorities.
They found his red
2005 Toyota RAV4 at the McLoughlin trailhead Thursday.

The mountain is popular with hikers and climbers. But
most of them
stick to the trail and climb between mid-July through
early
September.<http://bend.com/news/ar_view.php?ar_id=22789>http://bend.com/news/ar_view.php?ar_id=22789


Search for Beaverton man suspended on Mount McLoughlin

Bend.com news sources
Posted: Saturday, June 18, 2005 10:30 AM
After two days of exhaustive efforts, the Klamath
County Sheriff's
Office, assisted by the Jackson County Sheriff's
Office, has suspended the
search for John V. Zazzara, 54, of Beaverton.
Searchers closed down the
search command post at the trailhead at dusk Friday
night and Zazzara's
vehicle was removed from the parking lot.
Zazzara is thought to have been on Mt. McLoughlin
since Sunday, June
12th after going for a "day climb". He was reported
missing to
authorities Thursday at approximately 10:00 A.M.

The sheriff's office also received assistance Friday
evening in the
form of a Blackhawk helicopter, based out of Salem
with the Oregon Army
National Guard's Military Air Rescue Team.

Approximately 30 searchers on foot, horseback and with
search dogs over
two days looked for Zazzara. A fixed wing aircraft was
also used on
Thursday.

A great deal of area was searched and eliminated
without finding the
missing man. The 9,495-foot summit of the mountain has
continued to be
elusive visually for the searchers in the two aircraft
as well as those
on foot. The summit has remained shrouded in clouds
and blowing snow
since the search began.

The weather forecasted for the next several days is
not showing much
promise of improving conditions. The search was
suspended after weighing
the risk to the search personnel against the
increasingly narrow
probability of the missing person's survival.

Efforts to find Zazzara may be continued over the next
couple of weeks
as conditions and accessibility to the mountain's
summit improve.

Sheriff Evinger said this evening; "It is very
difficult to make the
decision to scale back any search before a missing
person has been found.
In this instance, little is known about the man's
intended whereabouts
and how he was prepared for his outing". Evinger
continued, "In this
case, time and conditions were not in our favor".
se,