Weather blocks search for 4 overdue on Mt. Rainier
Jan 21, 2012, 1:16 AM
MOUNT RAINIER NATIONAL PARK, Wash. (AP) – Rescuers are hoping for better weather Saturday after a blizzard kept them from searching 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, including 40-mph winds and zero visibility, forced them back down the mountain for the rest of the day.
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.
The missing campers are 37-year-old Mark Vucich, of San Diego, and 30-year-old Michelle Trojanowski, of Atlanta. The climbers were identified Friday as 52-year-old Sork “Erik” Yang, of Springfield, Ore., and Jin Seol Hee, of Korea.
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