COOPER SPUR, Ore. (AP) - Rescue teams defeated by blizzard conditions were preparing their search with about 20 more rescuers Tuesday to find three men missing after an off-season attempt on the summit of Mount Hood.
    
"We had people in snowmobiles at lower land levels during the night; we never ended the search," said Hood River Sheriff's Deputy Pete Hughes on Tuesday. "What was called off was the mountain climbing efforts."
     
The lost climbers, two Texans and a New Yorker who set out Wednesday, appeared to have tried a "light and fast" climb, said Steve Rollins, a search leader with Portland Mountain Rescue.
     
The strategy can help climbers lessen their risk by reducing the time they spend on the mountain, Rollins said, but "if something goes wrong, you don't have a lot of gear to fall back on."
     
Most climbers take on Mount Hood in May and June, and a climb this time of year is unusual, he said.
     
Rescue teams turned back short of the 11,239-foot summit on Monday. They came off the mountain with descriptions of high winds, heavy snow, ice, the threat of avalanches and so little visibility they couldn't see their feet at times. 
     
"We're dealing with gusts of 85 miles an hour that were knocking us back," said Tom Scully of the Hood River mountain rescue unit.
     
The three had not been heard from since Sunday, when one called from a snow cave just below the summit.
     
They are Kelly James, 48, who called from the snow cave, and Brian Hall, 37, both of Dallas, Texas; and Jerry "Nikko" Cooke, 36, of Brooklyn, N.Y.
     
The three were described as experienced climbers who had bought gear from an REI outdoor store.
     
"The climbing is not the issue," Hughes said. "It's the weather."
     
The National Weather Service forecast 6 to 12 inches of snow overnight and Tuesday morning in the Cascade Range, which includes Mount Hood.
     
Rollins said he hoped that all three took refuge in a snow cave.
     
"A snow cave can provide excellent shelter from wind and precipitation," he said. "If you're well prepared in a snow cave, you can last a really long time."
     
But climbers can get wet inside snow caves, increasing the risk of hypothermia, he said.
     
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)