MOUNT RAINIER NATIONAL PARK, Wash. (AP) — With weather conditions deteriorating and darkness looming, rescuers are concluding their search Sunday for four overdue climbers and campers on Mount Rainier.
Park spokeswoman Patti Wold says the search will resume Monday. She says searchers didn’t find signs of the parties, but “we’re optimistic, so we’ll keep searching.”
She says an Army Reserve Chinook helicopter got into the air briefly Sunday morning to help but poor visibility led them to return. She’s hopeful an aerial search could be conducted Monday.
Officials say the two groups are equipped for camping in winter weather and hopefully have dug in to wait out the storm. They were expected off the mountain on Jan. 15 or 16.
The missing campers are 37-year-old Mark Vucich, of San Diego, and 30-year-old Michelle Trojanowski, of Atlanta. The climbers were identified as 52-year-old Sork “Erik” Yang, of Springfield, Ore., and Seol Hee Jin, of Korea.
