sumrowbw said:
My daughter just called from El Dorado canyon. One of the search parties has found evidence that leads them to believe he is still alive. They found a marker - socks twisted around a branch- and a hollowed out area that looked as if he had rested there. They believe he is high up in the canyon, where he can see houses, and is trying to move toward them. They were going to send a helicopter back up, and try to get dog teams in there, but it is extremely rugged terrain, and they didn't know if they could get up there with the dogs. At least they have narrowed the area and hope to find him tomorrow. When they do, I think you owe him an apology. Brenda
Might want to share this with your daughter.
TO: Boulder County Area Media
FROM: Cmdr. Phil West #303/441-3621
RE: Search for Missing Injured Hiker Enters Its Fourth Day 7:30 p.m.
Case #06-5025
This media release supplements the previous releases from the Sheriff’s Office and provides current details regarding the status of search efforts. Prior media releases may be found on the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office web-site.
Personnel from nearly a dozen search and rescue groups concluded the fourth day of the search for missing hiker Lance Hering, 21, without finding any sign of him. Over 100 professional rescue team members coordinated by the Sheriff’ Office, complemented by nearly 100 citizen and military volunteers, continued to scour Eldorado Canyon and environs without success Saturday. The rescue teams’ efforts were complicated in the morning by cool, wet weather and heavy fog and cloud cover which made for poor visibility and treacherous footing.
The weather gradually improved after noon, allowing the use of the Denver Police Department helicopter, “Eagle –1”, which flew repeatedly over the canyon with Forward Looking Infra-Red (FLIR) equipment, looking for any significant heat sources (eg. the heat generated by a human body) within the search area. Unfortunately, nothing that couldn’t be attributed to another source (eg. a rescue team member) was found.
Efforts were scaled back again overnight with the expectation that the search would resume shortly after day break Sunday morning. Ground search efforts were concluded for the day by 6:00 p.m. Canine teams will check the trails again this evening in the hope of locating a scent that might give an indication as to Mr. Hering’s location. To date, those efforts have also proven unsuccessful.
Sheriff’s Office’ Emergency Services supervisors expect to field approximately 100 professional search and rescue personnel again on Sunday and plan to re-focus on the area where Lance was last seen early Wednesday morning. They will be supplemented by a group of retired and active duty Marines who have volunteered to assist. Additionally, the Hering family has made a public request for assistance from private citizens for assistance with the search of peripheral areas near Eldorado Canyon.
The command post for the incident is being re-located Saturday night to the Mesa trail head off Eldorado Springs Drive, with parking at the Doudy Draw trail head. The move is occasioned by the need for additional space to accommodate the vehicles and equipment that accompany an effort of this magnitude, as well as to minimize the impact on Eldorado Canyon State Park, the west end of which has been effectively closed for the past four days. The new command post will be operational late Saturday night.