PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- Fifty-seven climbers set out Saturday to look into chasms and crevasses in search of two men missing on Mount Hood since December.

Once again, they returned empty-handed.

A coordinator said they may never be found.

Captain Chris Bernard of the Air Force Reserve's 304th Rescue Squadron, one of the outfits that sent climbers up the mountain, said there were no significant finds.

Teams plan to be on the mountain againSunday but Russell Gabble of Mountain Wave Emergency Communications said it will be more of a training exercise than a search.

Search teams have made several attempts to locate the bodies of 37-year-old Brian Hall of Dallas, Texas, and 36-year-old Jerry "Nikko" Cooke of Brooklyn, New York but so far, neither of the men's bodies has been located.

Their climbing partner, Kelly James, 48, also of Dallas, died of hypothermia in a snow cave on the north side of the mountain near the summit as rescue teams below struggled for days against a winter storm.

 Background: Complete coverage of missing climbers

"We've done everything we can at this point," said Hood River Sheriff Joe Wampler said back in January, after calling off the search for Brian Hall and Jerry "Nikko" Cooke. Their fellow climber, Kelly James was found dead in a snow cave near the summit.

Wampler said the search would have to resume sometime in the spring or summer, after much of the snow had melted and climbing conditions improved. Searchers have returned to the mountain several times since then, hoping the melting snowpack would reveal the lsat location of the two dead climbers.

Slideshow: Clues found on Mount Hood

Photo courtesy of Christopher Ford.

Brian Hall, left, and Kelly James embrace each other on Feb. 2006 in Dallas.

A recovery mission earlier in the summer turned up some of the climbers' gear and searchers think the bodies are most likely above the 6,400-foot level.

The three friends set out Dec. 8 for what was supposed to be a two-day climb to the peak and back down. On Dec. 10, James used his cell phone to call his family and report the party was in trouble and that his two companions had gone downhill for help.

Climb was practice for Everest | Climbers had passion for adventure

The search was delayed numerous times because of the weather and the threat to the safety of the searchers, many of them volunteer mountaineers from local search and rescue teams.

How climbers became trapped | Timeline

The final attempt to find the men alive was Wampler's one-hour flight in a county plane to the 11,239-foot peak in late December, during a short break in icy, cloudy conditions as a storm moved in. Rescuers say it is one of the largest searches in memory on Oregon's tallest mountain.

KGW

Mount Hood.

During the height of the effort, scores of volunteers, deputies and National Guardsmen on foot and in helicopters and a plane had searched the mountain.