Snow, wind stall search for missing trail runner in Rocky Mountain National Park
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The hopes of finding Fort Collins trail runner Chad Pallansch in the remote backcountry of Rocky Mountain National Park grew dimmer Tuesday after winter conditions grounded the extensive search.
Park officials announced snow, ice and strong winds at high elevation Tuesday forced search efforts to focus on reviewing photographs from Monday's air reconnaissance operations, the ongoing investigation and planning for additional ground and aerial search operations.
"Search efforts and the ongoing investigation have not provided further clues at this point,'' the park said in a Tuesday news release.
Tuesday's storm was strong enough to force the park to close Trail Ridge Road. Wednesday's weather is much more favorable for search efforts with sunny skies and moderate wind.
Wednesday marks one week since the 49-year-old Pallansch, an experienced trail runner, disappeared while on an arduous 28-mile loop route on the west side of the park.
Crews have exhaustively searched Pallansch's planned route and beyond, an area that covers roughly 7 miles by 10 miles in a remote and rugged area of the park.
The search effort has included using air reconnaissance, a heat-sensing fixed-wing flight, dog teams and ground crews searching the area, including and centering on Mount Alice, from where he was last heard from.
Four other people still missing in Rocky Mountain National Park
Park spokesperson Kyle Patterson said there are four reported people still missing in the park since it opened in 1915, not counting Pallansch. Below are the other two most recent cases. The others occurred in the 1930s and 1940s.
Kevin Sypher: Sypher as last seen in the Sandbeach Lake parking area near the Wild Basin Entrance Station in the southern portion of the park the afternoon of April 30 while with a family member when he reportedly "willingly walked away from the vehicle he was traveling in."
James Pruitt: The man from Tennessee has been missing since March 3, 2019. He was 70 at the time. Rangers found his vehicle parked at the Glacier Gorge Trailhead along Bear Lake Road, but search efforts were suspended later that month due to persistent snow and strong winds.
This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Weather stalls search for missing man in Rocky Mountain National Park
