( CNN ) -- Citing the threat of avalanches , officials Tuesday suspended the search for two hikers missing since Friday morning on Mount Hood and held out little hope they would be found alive . `` Could they be alive ? '' asked Dr. Terri Schmidt , physician supervisor for American Medical Response in Clackamas County , Oregon . `` Yes . Is it very likely ? No . '' The specialist in emergency medicine noted that time is not in their favor . `` What we know is that at about 48 hours -- two days -- the chances of finding somebody alive after that go down to about 1 percent . '' She added , `` At some point , we have to say it 's time . '' Still , she said , Anthony Vietti , 24 , and Katie Nolan , 29 , have several factors in their favor : `` They 're young ; they 're healthy ; they -- as far as we can tell -- are relatively experienced and relatively well-equipped . '' The body of a third hiker , 26-year-old Luke Gullberg , was found dead Saturday from hypothermia . Clackamas County Sheriff Craig Roberts said Tuesday that , despite the odds , the the search operation had not moved into a recovery operation . In fact , the search was not continuing in any form . Operations coordinator Nate Thompson bemoaned the heavy snow that fell over the weekend and forced the suspension . `` A lot of our clues are now covered , '' he said . Steve Rollins , a team leader with Portland Mountain Rescue , said the avalanche danger would not permit rescuers to venture out any time soon . `` Slopes that do not normally avalanche are avalanching now , '' he said . `` I do n't see that we 're going to have conditions that will permit us to put anybody safely on the ground in the foreseeable future . '' Thompson hypothesized that the hikers may have been involved in an accident and that Gullberg , the most experienced of the hikers , may have broken away from the others and begun to backtrack in an effort to seek help . Above his body , rescuers found a water bottle , a helmet , a harness , a camera and camera case and a mitten belonging to Nolan . `` Maybe Katie lost a mitten in an accident , '' Thompson said . If Gullberg did indeed seek to return for help and Nolan lost one of her mittens in an accident , he may have left his gear , his pack and his supplies and gloves with her , taking the lone mitten , he said . But descending can be more difficult than climbing in some places . `` If there was some form of an accident and Luke did downclimb , this is a much more difficult descent , '' he said . National Weather Service meteorologist Charles Dalton told CNN that some 15 inches of snow had fallen at an altitude of about 6,000 feet between Monday and Tuesday afternoon , when temperatures were just below freezing . The three hikers , all from the Pacific Northwest , set out at about 1 a.m. Friday ( 4 a.m . ET ) , on what was to have been a fairly easy , `` semi-technical '' hike in which they would have descended the south side of the mountain , said Deputy Scott Meyers of the Clackamas County Sheriff 's Office . Vietti 's home is Longview , Washington ; Nolan 's is Portland , Oregon . Gullberg was from Des Moines , Washington . Gullberg 's MySpace page is filled with photos of him hiking in various places . The mountain rises 11,239 feet above sea level , with a base that stretches across 92 miles ( 148 km ) . It is the highest mountain in Oregon . Mount Hood is a dormant volcano with steam constantly spewing from holes , according to the Web site mthood.info . Gullberg 's death is the latest of many accidents on Mount Hood , KPTV reported . The worst occurred in May 1986 when nine people , including seven students from Oregon Episcopal School , died after they dug a snow cave during a sudden storm .
Officials cite avalanche threat , hold out little hope two hikers are still alive . Third hiker , 26-year-old Luke Gullberg , was found dead Saturday from hypothermia . Operations coordinator says heavy snowfall has covered up clues to hikers ' whereabouts .