"Colorado Climber Missing on Denali"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — An aerial search has started for a Colorado man missing during a solo climb of Mount McKinley.

Denali National Park Service spokeswoman Maureen McLaughlin said there was no sighting of 41-year-old Gerald Myers of Centennial on Thursday.

Myers began a solo climb to the summit of North America's tallest mountain on Tuesday morning. He was last seen Wednesday afternoon as he climbed the ridge approaching McKinley's 20,320-foot summit.

A team traveling about two hours behind did not see any signs of Myers. He had skis with him, but little survival gear.

According to a note left for his three climbing partners, Myers departed the 14,200-foot camp around 4:30 a.m. on Tuesday. He was next seen at the 17,200-foot high camp at approximately 11:00 a.m. that same morning, where he grabbed his skis and dug into a cache that the team had left on a previous acclimatization climb.

Other sightings that afternoon were made on the traverse to Denali Pass at 18,600 feet and then again near 18,900 feet. Park rangers at the high camp said Myers did not return to camp Tuesday night.

While he departed camp in warm clothing, Myers was traveling light and did not appear to take a sleeping bag, thermal pad, bivy sac, or a stove for melting snow. It was not known how much food or water he had in his pack.

Rangers and volunteers at the 14,200-foot camp and at high camp have been using spotting scopes of possible routes Myers could be using. However, visibility was obscured by clouds, with wind gusting to 45 mph near the summit.

According to the National Park Service, aerial searches will continue as weather allows.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'm pullin' for him. I'm hoping he just found himself a spot to rest for a while.

--Marc

Im sending well wishes too- may he return home safe and unscathed.

Gerald is a fellow MPer. Here's his profile: Gerald Myers
Best of wishes and get back to Colorado safely

I hope he is fine...

Sending positive karma. Make it back safely!

Gerald, sending all kinds of positive thoughts your way. I hope things have a good ending and that you're holding up somewhere or on your way down.

In this thread, Gerald contacted Jon Stanley, a friend of mine, about possibly joining up for the trip. Does anyone know if Gerald ended up going to DNP with Jon? Any info is appreciated.

Also, MP.com'ers talked with Gerald about potential Denali trips in this thread.

Marc -- thanks for posting.

Edit to add: Carrying skis near the summit would be out of the ordinary.

DNP News release:

Search Underway for Missing Climber on Mt. McKinley

Date: May 21, 2009
Contact: Maureen McLaughlin, (907) 733-9103
Contact: Kris Fister, (907) 683-9583

An initial aerial search for an overdue climber on Mt. McKinley was flown on the morning of Thursday, May 21 by an Air National Guard HC-130 Hercules aircraft. There were no initial sightings of the solo climber, although considerable cloud cover and high winds at upper elevations greatly limited the search.

Gerald Myers, a 41-year-old resident of Centennial, Colorado, began a long solo bid for the summit during the early morning hours of Tuesday, May 19. According to a note left for his three climbing partners, Myers departed the 14,200-foot camp around 4:30 a.m. Myers was next seen at the 17,200-foot high camp at approximately 11:00 a.m. that same morning, grabbing his skis and digging into a cache that the team had left there on a previous acclimatization day. Other sightings that afternoon were made on the traverse to Denali Pass at 18,600 feet and then again near 18,900 feet. According to NPS rangers on patrol at high camp, Myers did not return to camp Tuesday night.

During their investigations the following day, rangers learned that Myers was seen by another party at approximately 2:45 p.m. on Wednesday May 20 as he climbed the ridge approaching the mountain’s 20,320-foot summit. A subsequent team travelling approximately two hours behind the earlier party did not see any sign of the soloist during their summit bid; Myers did not return to high camp Wednesday night. At the time, weather high on the mountain was deteriorating with winds gusting 40 to 50 mph.

Myers was reportedly carrying skis on his backpack when he was spotted near the summit. Based on equipment left at various caches on the mountain, it is expected that Myers was carrying minimal survival gear at the time of his disappearance. While he departed camp in warm clothing, Myers was travelling light and did not appear to take a sleeping bag, thermal pad, bivy sac, or a stove for melting snow. It is unknown how much food or water he had in his pack.

According to his partners, the climber was likely carrying his FRS ‘family band’ radio as well as a SPOT locator beacon. Myers had programmed his SPOT device with three button settings: “OK, moving up”, “OK, but not moving”, and “911”. According to the GPS data recorded by the SPOT, the last electronically recorded location was the 17,200-foot camp at 10:50 a.m. on May 19, when Myers had recorded his position by pressing the “OK, moving up” button. Throughout his trip, Myers had reportedly been making one position recording each day.

Aerial searching will continue as visibility and winds allow. NPS rangers and volunteers at the 14,200-foot camp and at high camp have been conducting visual searches via spotting scope of possible ski descent routes. Currently, visibility is generally obscured by clouds, with wind gusting to 45 mph near the summit.

According to a Talkeetna NPS Ranger I spoke with, weather is improving -- hopefully enough to conduct some air searches.

From different sources, Gerald had joined Jon's group for the trip. Consistent with the above news release, none of the other three were aware of Gerald's plan until they found the note.

http://www.9news.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=116310&catid=339

Amazing how much info the local news cuts out... here are the actual NPS news releases:

nps.gov/dena/parknews/searc…

nps.gov/dena/parknews/searc…

May the weather gods permit his safe return. Godspeed and strength to you Gerald!

http://www.nps.gov/dena/parknews/search4.htm

Thanks for posting the updates, Avery, Tom & Coop.

--Marc

http://www.nps.gov/dena/parknews/searchmay25.htm

My most sincere condolences go out to the family and friends of Gerald Meyers.

Aerial Search on Mt. McKinley Suspended

Date: May 26, 2009
Contact: Maureen McLaughlin, (907) 733-9103
Contact: Kris Fister, (907) 683-9583

The active search effort for solo climber Dr. Gerald Myers was scaled back on Tuesday afternoon after search managers determined that further air operations were unlikely to locate him. There has been no sighting of the solo climber or his gear during six days of aerial and ground searching. Although no more aerial flights are anticipated, ranger staff will continue to search through the thousands of high resolution images taken during the aerial flights in search of clues to Dr. Myers whereabouts.

Dr. Myers began his summit bid from the 14,200-foot camp the morning of Tuesday, May 19. He was sighted at various elevations along the West Buttress route that day, the highest of which was somewhere between 18,000 and 19,000 feet. Dr. Myers did not return to high camp on Tuesday night. An individual climber was observed on the summit ridge the afternoon of Wednesday, May 20, although it cannot be confirmed that it was Dr. Myers.

Dr. Myers was observed carrying only a small daypack with minimal survival gear at the time of his disappearance. He did not take a stove for melting snow, and it is unknown how much food he had in his pack. Throughout his climb, Dr. Myers carried an FRS radio and a SPOT locator device; the last GPS location reported by the SPOT device was at the 17,200-foot camp on May 19. Throughout his trip, Myers had been making at least one position recording each day.

In light of his limited supplies and the subzero temperatures, search managers consider that survival is outside the window of possibility. Observers have thoroughly searched the route and surrounding areas to the degree that if the climbers were visible on the surface, there is a high probability they would have been discovered.

Very deep condolences to all who know Gerald. I have been following this thread in hopes of new light to his whereabouts. Sad to hear of the latest news especially being a Colorado climber, it hits close to home. As with Sue a few years back, I am deeply sorry for all those that are close to him. Another sad loss in our climbing community. I dont know Gerald but I know it must a hard for all those involved, including the NPS Rescue crews. Thanks for all the updates Avery. Hopefully he wll emerge from a snowcave sometime.

Sorry to hear the latest news. I have been following the updates since it happened. I am from NM, but I been to Denali few times and the place can turn deadly very fast. My condolences to the family and close friends, thanks for the upates.
Leo.

I'm sorry, too, as I read in the news that the search was called off. My thoughts go out to this climber and his friends and family. Such a tragedy.

Very sad news indeed. It makes it worse when the answers to the mystery are not there. I hope closure one day comes. Condolences to his friends and family. A tough loss for them and the CO. climbing community. May you all heal easily and well.

Shane Neal wrote:Very sad news indeed. It makes it worse when the answers to the mystery are not there. I hope closure one day comes. Condolences to his friends and family. A tough loss for them and the CO. climbing community. May you all heal easily and well.

Couldn't have said it better myself.

Gerald's thread on Denali seems terribly ominous in retrospect. mountainproject.com/v/exten…
My thoughts and prayers are with his loved ones.