Hood River, Ore. ? With yet another snowstorm barreling in, search teams gave up any hope of finding two missing climbers alive on wind-whipped Mount Hood and abandoned the rescue effort Wednesday after nine frustrating days.

“We’ve done everything we can at this point,” said Hood River County Sheriff Joe Wampler, choking back tears after returning from one last, fruitless flyover of the 11,239-foot peak.

As the weather permits, officials will now look for the bodies of Brian Hall and Jerry “Nikko” Cooke, he said.

Some of the climbers’ relatives had wanted the search called off, though not all, Wampler said, adding that he didn’t want to imperil search teams in foul weather.

The men’s families had no immediate comment.

An autopsy Wednesday showed that climber Kelly James, who had called his relatives from a snow cave on Dec. 10, had been dead for several days when he was found Sunday, said Dr. Larry Lewman of the state medical examiner’s office. He died of hypothermia.

Three climbers in all were reported missing in the snow on Mount Hood on Dec. 11, the day after Dallas landscape architect James, 48, made the phone call.

Volunteers continued scouring the mountains for signs of James’ climbing partners, Hall, a 37-year-old personal trainer from Dallas, and Cooke, a 36-year-old lawyer from New York City. But climbing gear found on the peak suggested the two may have been swept to their deaths over a precipice or buried in an avalanche.

A piper cub airplane carrying Hood River County officials flies over the slopes of Mount Hood, Ore., in the search for two missing climbers. Hood River County Sheriff Joe Wampler and Deputy Chris Guertin took the last flight over the mountain before returning to Hood River Wednesday to announce search efforts were suspended.

The sheriff’s announcement ended a dramatic and heartbreaking search that began Dec. 11 on the rocky, snow-covered flanks of Oregon’s tallest mountain and included, at its height, scores of volunteers, sheriff’s deputies and National Guardsmen on foot and in helicopters and a plane.

The three men had set out Dec. 8 on what was supposed to be a two-day climb to the peak and back down. On Dec. 10, however, James called his family via cell phone to say that the party was in trouble and that his two companions had gone downhill for help. Authorities suspect James suffered a dislocated shoulder, perhaps in a fall.

In one last-ditch effort, the sheriff piloted a Piper Cub over the mountain Wednesday, looking into a report by snowshoers of a yellow tent in a snow field. He said it turned out to be a rock.