Why would anybody climb Mount Hood in December?

That was a question posed by many this month as the world’s attention was focused on Mount Hood, where three climbers were lost near the Oregon landmark’s 11,239-foot summit.

The Central Oregon climbing community was watching as well, and some of those mountaineers offer an important perspective on the tragedy: a climber’s perspective.

Pete Keane, co-owner of Timberline Mountain Guides in Bend, has reached the summit of Mount Hood more than 300 times. He and Steve Baldwin, the other co-owner of the business, do the bulk of their guiding on Mount Hood, the highest peak in Oregon.

Keane says that, in fact, the three ill-fated climbers selected the right time of year for this particular climb: the north face of the mountain in the right-hand gully, called ”North Face Right” by most climbers, according to Keane. (Reportedly, a note the three climbers left at a nearby Forest Service Station detailed plans for a climb in that area). Keane has climbed the route once before, and he has climbed other routes up the north side several times.

”Actually, they picked a good time to do that climb,” Keane says. ”Because they’re looking for ice to climb. Later in the year, the ice gets covered with snow.”

Matt Millar, a climbing guide for Mountain Link in Bend, agrees. Millar has climbed Hood before, ascending the south side of the mountain.

”They had the right weather window for the climb they were doing, and it was the right time of year,” Millar says. ”It’s really speculative, but based on the information they had about the route and their experience, it’s not an oddity they were there.”

What is an oddity – and certainly a tragedy – is how things turned out for the climbers. And just what happened on the mountain is still largely a mystery.

The climbers – Texans Kelly James, 48, and Brian Hall, 37, both of Dallas, and Jerry Cooke, 36, of New York – were reported missing on Mount Hood on Dec. 11. James was found dead in a snow cave near the summit on Dec. 17, but the two other climbers have yet to be found.

Last week, a large-scale search for the two missing climbers was downgraded to a recovery mission.

James reportedly used his cell phone from the mountain on Dec. 10 to tell his family that he and his two companions were in trouble.

What happened on the mountain is a matter of conjecture based on James’ telephone call, photos taken by the climbers, and two ice axes and a climbing harness found by search crews.

Authorities say James might have been injured in a fall, prompting Hall and Cooke to go for help. The two climbers then might have fallen from or been blown off a cliff, buried by an avalanche, or died of hypothermia.

The three experienced climbers had reportedly planned on a quick, lightly equipped ascent and descent of Mount Hood.

”The type of route they were climbing on, you wouldn’t want to bring overnight gear, because it would be heavy and slow you down,” Keane says. ”Most people go light and plan on going up and down before they would use camping stuff. It’s speculation, but I’m sure they thought they would squeak it in before the weather came. If the guy was injured, that would slow them down, or maybe the weather came in sooner.”

Keane says it’s possible that the lost climbers changed plans and took the Cooper Spur route up, on the north side of Mount Hood to the east of North Face Right. In fact, James’ body was found in a snow cave near the Cooper Spur route.

The climbers also may have tried to descend Cooper Spur, because they would likely have seen it off to the east all day if they were ascending North Face Right, Keane explains. He says severe weather may have prevented the climbers from knowing which direction they were going.

One key question that Keane poses is why James didn’t call for a rescue on his cell phone. Keane says that James may not have been able to get a signal after talking with his family.

”It’s very difficult to get a cell-phone signal on top (of the mountain),” Keane observes. ”The coverage is pretty spotty.”

North Face Right includes challenging slopes of 50 to 55 degrees and short, steep sections of ice.

”It’s an advanced climb,” says Keane, who has guided on Mount Hood since 1989. ”But technical standards go way higher than that route. There is some technical ice climbing and some steep snow.”

Climbers must use crampons, ice axes and rope to ascend North Face Right, and the three climbers reportedly were equipped with that gear.

”They brought the appropriate gear,” Keane says. ”They cut their margins a little tight, but that’s pretty standard.”

Keane says that sometimes mountaineers focus too much on the technical aspects of the climb rather than the ”whole package deal,” which includes knowing how to navigate in bad weather.

”You’ve got to look at the package deal,” Keane says. ”When it’s socked in up there, it feels like the inside of a pingpong ball.”

Mount Hood offers a unique mountain locator unit program: electronic rental devices that send out signals to help rescue crews track climbers who use them.

Keane says he brings a Mount Hood locator unit when taking clients on guided climbs, adding that he has never needed to use one. A climber in need of rescue must activate the device, which will then emit a tracking signal, and then call 911 on a cell phone to initiate the search.

Keane explains that many mountaineers struggle with the decision to carry such a device.

”It’s an ethical question for a lot of climbers,” Keane says. ”Because some don’t want to be too dependent on technology.”

Whether a Mount Hood locator unit would have helped in the recent tragedy on Mount Hood is open for debate. Even if search and rescue crews could pinpoint the climbers’ locations, the foul weather may have prevented a timely rescue, Millar notes.

Reportedly, none of the three climbers had climbed the mountain before. According to the Associated Press, about 10,000 people each year start for the Mount Hood summit, mostly up the south side. And typically, 20 to 25 have to be rescued.

Winter climbers at Mount Hood number only in the hundreds, according to an AP report, because greater technical skill is required to climb ice.

Mount Hood is a popular mountain to climb because it’s the highest in the state, and it’s easily accessible compared with other peaks in the Cascade Range.

”You can fly into PDX (Portland), drive for two hours and be at the trailhead for a number of routes,” Millar says. ”Accessibility leads to a greater variety of skill levels getting to the mountain. To some degree, that’s a contributing factor to accidents.”

But the three climbers who went missing on Mount Hood earlier this month were experienced and certainly capable of ascending the routes they might have been climbing, Millar says. James reportedly had previously climbed Alaska’s Mount McKinley, the Andes Mountains in South America, and various peaks in Europe.

Also, the note they left would seem to suggest they were conscientious climbers, according to Millar.

”The fact they left a note with detailed information is rare,” Millar says. ”The majority of climbers don’t leave that much information, if any.”

Keane also leads guided climbs in Central Oregon on Mount Jefferson, Three Finger Jack, Mount Washington and the Three Sisters.

While certain routes up Mount Hood are challenging, Keane considers Mount Jefferson the toughest climb in the state.

”Jefferson and North Sister are much more difficult than Hood,” Keane says. ”People need three days to do Jefferson. Hood gets overplayed because it’s the highest peak and it’s so close to Portland. It has a lot of allure.”

And, as the climbing world has been reminded, it has considerable potential for danger.