SEATTLE, Washington (Isabelle Zehnder reporting) -- Hope was fading Tuesday that two teams of hikers missing from Washington's Mount Rainier would be found.
On Monday, mountaineering district ranger in charge of the climbing, search & rescue, and aviation programs at Mt. Rainier National Park, Stefan Lofgren, said they had not given up hope that the four missing hikers on Mt. Rainier were still alive.
But by Tuesday the Park Service spokeswoman, Patti Wold, said chances of finding the four missing hikers were "very minimal, minimum to none."
Wold added, "We're not searching today. We are scaling back the operation."
On Monday the hope was that the climbers would have listened to advise to visitors – stop moving, dig in, and wait out the severe weather and whiteout conditions. Officials were hoping that’s what they’d done.
The four missing are Mark Vucich, 37, of San Diego, and Michelle Trojanowski, 30, of Atlanta. The two were planning to camp at the Muir snowfield. Sork “Erik” Yang, 52, of Springfield, Oregon, and Seol Hee Jin, 52, from Korea, were on a summit attempt via the most popular Disappointment Cleaver Route, The Washington Post reports.
All four were due off the mountain about a week ago.
Rangers believe both parties were well equipped for winter conditions. On Monday they said they worried they could be running out of supplies.
Still Lofgren held onto hope saying Monday, “By far and away, no one has given up hope." He noted that climbing parties have waited out storms for days or weeks.
Why the sudden change from hope to gloom
The two sets of people were in two groups making it that much more difficult to search for them.
A massive search took place Monday and was conducted between storms. An army Chinook helicopter, a private helicopter, and a Washington State Patrol plane with infrared capabilities were used in the latest unsuccessful search, along with seven ground teams, the U.S. National Park Service said in a statment.
The unsuccessful search likely led to the grim news that the hikers would likely not be found.
The search was suspended Tuesday as another storm rolled in.
Experts said Monday that the search for the four missing was a difficult one, with winds up to 60 mph, white-out conditions, ice-crusted snow, avalanche dangers, snow depths between 10 to 15 feet, and darkness limiting their searches.
“The surreal and sublime austerity of being up in the wilderness on the mountain is heightened in the winter,” Lofgren said.
Prior to Monday, weather had prevented crews from conducting aerial searches for the four missing as well as a 66-year-old snowshoer, Yong Chun Kim, who was found alive last week after spending two days in blizzard conditions. During their search for Kim searchers found two other people on Rainier the same day they found Kim. They’d not been reported missing.
This shows the importance of telling someone where you’re going, when you plan to return, and having a plan in case you don’t make it back at your designated time.
While thousands frequent the park in the winter only a few hundred climb the mountain during winter months.
Reuters reported Tuesday that the families of the four missing people have been told the chances of finding their loved ones alive have dwindled.
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