Two climbers die on Mount Washington

Tom Haynes, Dan Bray, Kirk Metzger, Ron Berry and Mark Foster from the Camp Sherman Hasty Team assisted in aerial recovery of climbers' bodies. photo by Kirk Metzger ALBANY, Ore. (AP) -- The bodies of two climbers killed on Mount Washington in the Central Oregon Cascades were recovered Saturday by Jefferson County sheriff's deputies.

Linn County Sheriff Dave Burright said Thomas A. Seifert, 46, of Goldendale, Wash., and Gary L. Glentz, 50, of White Salmon, Wash., planned a one-day climb of the 7,794-foot rocky peak Thursday. Relatives contacted Deschutes County deputies when they did not return as scheduled.

Deschutes County deputies found their car near Big Lake. Burright's office was notified and a search began. The mountain is on Linn County's east border.

Jefferson County deputies found the bodies, still roped together, on the west side of the mountain at about 11 a.m. at the 7,190-foot level.

Both men were experienced climbers but this apparently was their first attempt at Mount Washington, a fairly short climb but with a difficult pinnacle at the top.

Mount Washington was not climbed until 1923.

Burright said an equipment failure may have been to blame.

The deputies were joined by mountain rescue teams from Eugene and Corvallis, the Linn County Explorer Scouts' search and rescue post, the Linn County Mounted Posse and the 1042nd Army National Guard.

The bodies were airlifted from the mountain to a funeral home in Sweet Home.

Mt. Washington is north of the Three Sisters and looms over Suttle Lake.