Kelly James, the Texas father of two whose body was found on Mt. Hood during a desperate search, took photographs documenting the ill-fated climb shared with two close friends and those pictures have exacerbated searchers’ fears about the other two men still missing.

Photo courtesy of Christopher Ford.

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

Crews found the camera when they recovered James' body Monday.

“After looking at those pictures, seeing what they had with them, I’m pretty concerned… about how long they can last,” Hood River County Sheriff Joe Wampler said during a news briefing Tuesday.

He said the climbers were "lightly equipped."

James started taking photos in the parking lot at the Tilly Jane trailhead. Wampler described those initial photos showing “three happy guys putting their stuff out.”

VIDEO: Sheriff describes photos on James' camera

Later pictures show the men climbing Eliot Glacier.

The pictures, “tell us where they were at a certain time of day… [and about] the packs they were carrying, the type of equipment they had… we’re using that to analyze their ability to survive,” Wampler said.

As of Wednesday morning, James’ family decided not to release the photos to the media, according to Sheriff Wampler.

He reiterated his hope that Brian Hall and Jerry “Nikko” Cooke took refuge in a snow cave or some other such sheltered area that searchers may yet find.

However, Wampler also acknowledged two grim theories: the men may have fallen to their death or been buried alive by an avalanche. The area where they climbed was extremely unstable with high avalanche danger. In fact, it's such a precarious area that ground crews have been unable to search most of the vicinity.

Wampler said Tuesday he was assembling an avalanche team to probe certain parts of the less treacherous terrain.

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The men set out 13 days ago to complete a quick trip up the unforgiving route. They began on December 7th and took only the food and gear they thought they would need for a short climb.

They planned to spend two days on the mountain. The infamous north face, with its sheer walls of ice and steep precipices, is considered a risky climb even in good weather.

Wampler Tuesday issued a warning about climbing Mt. Hood in the winter: "If you have a problem, it's really hard to be rescued... it's really hard for us to come get you."

He said that's particularly true of the north face.

(AP also contributed to this article.)