Search Continues For Missing Climber

The search continues for Dr. Gerald Myers, a climber who has not been seen or heard from since his solo summit bid on Mt. McKinley early last week. Favorable flying conditions in the Alaska Range on Saturday permitted more extensive aerial searching and photo documentation of zones previously obscured by clouds. Three aircraft with spotting crews – the park’s A-Star B3 helicopter, a Cessna Conquest twin-engine airplane, and a Cessna 206 – together flew over ten hours. Search zones included the upper mountain, elevations between 14,200 and 17,200 feet, and potential north side descent routes. A ground team climbed to Denali Pass on Saturday, but was turned around by high winds. On Sunday, aerial spotters on board two U.S. Army Chinook helicopters attempted to check elevations above 17,000 feet, but strong winds and intermittent clouds during the morning and early afternoon precluded safe searches of the more probable zones high on Mt. McKinley. The park’s A-Star B3 was similarly unable to fly the zones safely on Sunday. The U.S. Army Chinook crews remained overnight in Talkeetna and were to resume the aerial search early yesterday morning. Dr. Myers began his summit bid from the 14,200-foot camp on the morning of Tuesday, May 19th, and is believed to have travelled light with minimal survival gear. He was sighted above Denali Pass (18,200 feet) later that afternoon.  An individual climber was observed on the summit ridge the afternoon of Wednesday, May 20th, although it cannot be confirmed that it was Dr. Myers.