Jeffrey Kelly James (February 2, 1958 – ) was one of three experienced mountain climbers who died on

Mount Hood Mount Hood is a potentially active stratovolcano in the Cascade Volcanic Arc. It was formed by a subduction zone on the Pacific coast and rests in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located about east-southeast of Portlan ...

in the U.S. state of Oregon in December 2006 in an incident that received worldwide attention. James was a native of Dallas, Texas and a graduate of Texas Tech University in Lubbock. He was an accomplished landscape architect with his designs published in ''Metropolitan Home'' and ''Better Homes and Gardens''. James was also a veteran mountaineer with more than 25 years experience climbing mountains including Mount McKinley, the

Eiger The Eiger () is a mountain of the Bernese Alps, overlooking Grindelwald and Lauterbrunnen in the Bernese Oberland of Switzerland, just north of the main watershed and border with Valais. It is the easternmost peak of a ridge crest that extends a ...

, Alpamayo, and over 20 ascents of

Mount Rainier Mount Rainier (), indigenously known as Tahoma, Tacoma, Tacobet, or təqʷubəʔ, is a large active stratovolcano in the Cascade Range of the Pacific Northwest, located in Mount Rainier National Park about south-southeast of Seattle. With a s ...

. James resided in Dallas with his wife Karen James and four children. He was also a devoted Christian. On December 10, 2006, during his climb on Mount Hood, James made a cell phone call to his wife, Karen, and two older sons telling them that he was trapped in a snow cave and that his two climbing partners Brian Hall and Jerry “Nikko” Cooke had gone for help. For more than a week, fierce weather thwarted rescue attempts. Finally on December 17, 2006, rescue workers located James’ body in a snow cave, below the summit. Before he died of hypothermia, James removed his glove and extended his ring finger with his signet JKJ ring prominently displayed, which some have interpreted as a signal to his family. The two other climbers who went for help, Brian Hall and Jerry Cooke, were never found, and have since been declared dead. Kelly's wife Karen James wrote a book ''Holding Fast: The Untold Story of the Mount Hood Tragedy'' Holding fast
/ref> about the accident. KarenandKelly

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:James, Kelly 1958 births 2006 deaths American landscape architects American mountain climbers Mountaineering deaths Sports deaths in Oregon Sportspeople from Dallas

See also

References