The search for the two missing father and son hikers from Minnesota has a been a big story here in Colorado. Yesterday the weather greatly improved which will hopefully help the search:
Rescuers were back in the Echo Lake area Tuesday for third day in the search for two missing hikers from Minnesota.
The Clear Creek County Sheriff’s Office and Alpine Rescue Team battled winds of more than 25 mph, on-and-off snow squalls and below-zero wind chill conditions at an elevation starting at 10,600 feet Monday in the search for Damian McManus, 51, and his son, Evan McManus, 18.
The weather improved Tuesday.
Additionally, the Salvation Army deployed personnel to help in the search. Besides supporting searchers with food and water, the Salvation Army also has an emotional care team on standby at the request of Clear Creek County.
“Our primary goal is to provide for the needs of search and rescue team members so that they may continue their work until this family is found,” divisional leader Lt. Col. Dan Starrett said. [KDVR]
You can read more at the link, but my guess would be that the two were trying to hike up Mt. Evans or an adjacent thirteen-thousand foot peak in the area since Echo Lake is the winter trailhead for such hikes. The below pictures shows the valley where the Chicago Lakes are located with adjacent 13ers on either side that shows what the terrain leading up to Mt. Evans from Echo Lake is like:
There are definitely some avalanche threatening areas on Mt. Evans, but hopefully these two just got lost and the search teams can find them. It is a large area that has received a lot of snow this year so the search teams definitely have a difficult job ahead of them. Hopefully this turns out with a happy ending.
