Search on for Missing Climber

With limited gear and a pair of skis, a climber is missing on Mount McKinley and an initial high-altitude aerial search produced no sightings this morning.

Gerald Myers, 41, of Centennial, Colo., is believed to have reached the 20,320-foot summit of North America’s highest peak Wednesday afternoon, according to National Park Service spokeswoman Maureen McLaughlin.

A group of climbers returning from the summit reported seeing Myers on the summit ridge, she said. But he has not returned to the 17,200-foot high camp or to the 14,200-foot camp from which he launched his solo summit attempt early Tuesday morning.

Park rangers think Myers may have elected to descend on a more difficult route other than the popular West Buttress, which he took to the summit ridge and perhaps beyond.

The fact he was carrying skis suggests he may have attempted to descend via the Orient Express or the Messner Couloir — both of which are ski descents, McLaughlin said. Descents on two other possible routes, the West Buttress and the Reserve Gully, can be done on snowshoes, skis or crampons, she said.

“There are many routes to come down and we do not know which one he was targeting,” McLaughlin said.

Myers was traveling light. Though he grabbed his skis from a cache at 17,200 feet on Tuesday morning, rangers believe he carried no sleeping bag, bivouac sack, thermal pad or camp stove. This guy is clearly not following the ten essentials for mountaineering.

He should know better than to go into the Chugach without gear as basic as this. His chances of survival are slim. You should never sacrifice the essentials for the sake of hiking light.

Now he would have to dig himself a shelter in the snow if he wants to stay alive. It is likely that he has injured himself which makes matters worst.

This morning’s search, by an Air National Guard HC-130 Hercules, was limited by high winds and cloud cover. A second search could happen this evening if there’s a break in the weather, McLaughlin said.

This is the third incident, and the first search, on the mountain this season, McLaughlin said. In separate incidents earlier this month, William Hearne of Fairport, N.Y., 61, collapsed on his approach to the 14,200-foot camp and died of apparent natural causes, and a man with pulmonary edema was evacuated from 14,200 feet.

Find Beth Bragg online at adn.com/contact/bbragg or call 257-4309.