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From Wendry, I'm Cassie DePeckel and this is Against the Odds.

Over the last four episodes, we've told the story of a high school group who set out on an expedition to climb Oregon's mount hood.

High on the mountain, a storm hit, stranding them for days in freezing temperatures.

Despite a massive rescue effort, nine people would not make it home.

It's a harrowing story of perseverance and unthinkable tragedy. Joining us today is author Rick Conrad.

Rick's book, Code 1244, the 1986 mount hood tragedy was instrumental in putting the series together.

Rick has climbed mount hood several times and for his book, he interviewed survivors, rescuers and the families of those who were lost.

Rick Conrad, welcome to Against the Odds.

Thank you for having me. I know you grew up in Oregon not too far from mount hood. Was this a story you remember hearing about?

Is it happened? Oh, definitely. I was 18 at the time and I remember leaving the apartment each day to go buy the newspaper.

We didn't have the internet back then. So I really only received news from the six o'clock news or the newspaper.

So you spent your whole work day wondering if there were any developments up on the mountain.

As a community, we thought authorities were going to find these kids right away and imagine our surprise day after day when that just didn't happen.

There was also a powerful illustration published in the Oregonian newspaper. It featured a silhouette of the mountain with nine Christian crosses ascending the slopes.

You know, that had a very powerful and lasting impact on me.

So then, what was your inspiration for writing a book about these tragic events so many years later?

I figured you'd ask that. It's an embarrassing story. But in 1991, I was coming down from the summit and I did an unplanned north face variation.

I was climbing solo and I had a household hammer and a large screwdriver and a pair of tennis shoes. I was just poor and I couldn't afford better equipment.

I got to a point of safety, high up on the spur and I met a woman up there and she saw me climbing and she gave me a juice box and she couldn't help but notice the household tools in my hand and started chastising me for not only putting myself in danger but any volunteers who would have to rescue me if I got in trouble.

She was right and we sat down and we started talking about the 86 tragedy. I was mentioning something about the events that took place on Thursday and she said that the real mystery is what happened Wednesday morning and she just kind of left it like that.

Cryptic. I always wondered what happened during that rescue operation and I was certain that someone was going to write a book.

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