A body found on Oregon's highest mountain is that of a 48-year-old Texan who called his family by cellphone from a snow cave as a three-man climbing party ran into trouble more than a week ago.

Rescuers head out for another search of Oregon's highest mountain, where the body of one climber has been found and two other men are missing.
(Kevork Djansezian/Associated Press)

A person close to the family said the body was identified as that of Kelly James and a military official confirmed it, the Associated Press reported on Monday. The other men are unaccounted for.

Searchers found a snow cave Sunday just below the summit of Mount Hood, near a spot fixed by tracing James' cellphone signals. The Dallas man had made a four-minute call to relatives Dec. 10, telling them the party was in trouble and his companions had headed back down, apparently for help.

His body was found in a second cave about 90 metres below the top of the 3,425-metre peak.

The discovery dashed hopes that the men's mountaineering experience would save them from tragedy amid blizzards and bitter temperatures on the mountain's treacherous north side.

Pete Hughes, a spokesman for the Hood River County sheriff's office, said the search for Brian Hall, 37, also of Dallas, and Jerry Cooke, 36, of New York City would focus on possible routes on Eliot Glacier and Cooper Spur, well down the the mountain, in case the other two got that far.

Seen here in a photo from June 2006, Kelly James, 48, was found dead in a snow cave on Oregon's Mount Hood.
(Jessica Nunez/Associated Press)

"Eliot Glacier is real dangerous so we will do that by air only," he told AP. "It's a bad avalanche area with crevasses. There are still people in crevasses that have never been recovered."

Near the first snow cave, helicopters had spotted rope laid out in a Y shape, which climbers often use to indicate their location.

There also was an ice spike and footprints, apparently headed up the mountain. Searchers dug through the cave and found two ice axes, a sleeping bag or pad and rope. The second cave and James's body were found a short time later.

There has been no communication from the group since James's phone call.

With files from the Associated Press