MOUNT RAINIER NATIONAL PARK, Wash. (AP) — A blizzard is keeping rescuers from continuing to search for four people missing on Washington’s Mount Rainier.
National Park spokeswoman Patti Wold says five elite mountaineers spent Friday morning searching for two climbers and two campers who were due to return from their trips at the beginning of the week. But conditions on 14,410-foot volcano include 40-mph winds and zero visibility, so it was too risky for the rescuers to keep looking. Well over a foot of new snow fell overnight.
Rangers say the two parties were well-equipped and hopefully have dug in to wait out the storm, but they could be getting low on supplies.
Missing are 37-year-old Mark Vucich of San Diego, 30-year-old Michelle Trojanowski of Atlanta and a Springfield, Ore., couple whose names have not been released.
