New Hope for Missing Climbers' Families

Dec. 15, 2006 — -- As rescue workers searching for three missing climbers on Oregon's Mount Hood have continued to be stymied by stormy weather, family members of the three hikers have found hope in one of the hikers' cell phone signal.

Officials last heard from the climbers on Sunday, when Kelly James used his cell phone from a snow cave to say the group was in trouble.

He said his two companions Brian Hall and Jerry "Nikko" Cooke had gone for help.

However, T-Mobile said it had gotten a return signal early Tuesday in response to James' cell phone "pings," indicating the handset was back on after it had been off, authorities said Thursday.

"It brought great hope," James' wife, Karen, told "Good Morning America" today. "I know how he turns it off and turns it on. … He knows what he's supposed to do, and he's doing it."

The Hood River County Sheriff's Office initially said the signal was returned at 10:55 p.m., but later the phone company said the last signal returned from the handset was at 1:51 a.m. Tuesday.

Michaela Cooke, the wife of hiker Jerry Cooke, said James' cell phone activity gave her hope.

"We're hoping that [the other hikers] are in close proximity to Kelly," she said. "We haven't been able to hear anything for Jerry's cell phone."

What links the men together is their spirit, Brian Hall's sister Angela Hall told "Good Morning America."

"There's a real kinship amongst these men," she said. "The most important thing about them is the adventurous spirit that they all share. They know what to do, and they plan so meticulously."

Another thing that bolsters the families is the rescuers' help.

"These are some of the most fantastic men and women that we've ever met," Karen James said.

"We have people constantly coming up and praying for us. … We know that they're just as passionate about finding these guys [as we are]. And that's what keeps us going. … They love them as much as we do, and that means everything to us."