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NATIONAL PARK SERVICE MORNING REPORT Wednesday, November 19, 2014 INCIDENTS Rocky Mountain NP Search In Progress For Missing Climber On Monday afternoon, park rangers were notified that P.J., 25, of Broomfield, Colorado, was overdue from a mountaineering trek to Rocky Mountain National Park and was believed to be in the Longs Peak area. P.J.'s car was found in the parking lot at the Longs Peak Trailhead. He reportedly left Sunday morning to summit Longs Peak and did not arrive at work on Monday. It is unclear what route he was planning, but he indicated to friends he was considering the Cables Route on the north face. He was not prepared to spend the night. A park search and rescue team searched a small segment of the area until dark on Monday. Yesterday, teams searched the north face, Keyhole Route, Chasm Cirque area and along the Longs Peak Trail. They were assisted by Rocky Mountain Rescue and Larimer County Search and Rescue. Thirty-two people were involved in the search efforts. Weather on Sunday and Monday included snow, high winds and bitterly cold temperatures. On Tuesday, teams faced extremely high winds, blowing snow and gusts up to 85 mph at 14,000 feet. Aerial search efforts were not possible due to extreme winds. Park rangers would like to hear from anyone who was in the Longs Peak area on Sunday, November 16th. Please call 970-586-1204. [Kyle Patterson, Public Affairs Officer] Mount Rushmore NP Missing Man's body Found By Searchers On the afternoon of Wednesday, November 5th, a Mount Rushmore employee reported an unattended vehicle in a legal but uncommonly used parking pullout on the west side of the park. Rangers responded, located the vehicle, conducted an NCIC inquiry, and received a return for a local man from Rapid City with no outstanding wants or warrants against him. Approximately three-and-a-half hours later, park dispatch was notified of a late return from NCIC on the above vehicle that advised that the registered owner was listed as being a missing/endangered person. Rangers returned to the area to investigate and discovered the vehicle at the same place. Additional personnel, including the park's explosives detection canine unit (which is also trained in human tracking), were called in to begin a search. They were joined by personnel from assisting agencies. Approximately 15 minutes after the search began, the man was found about 40 yards from the roadway at the base of a 40-foot cliff. A deputy coroner on scene confirmed that he was dead and that he probably died from a fall from the 40 foot cliff. No weapons were found at the scene. Keystone Ambulance Service and Keystone Volunteer Fire Department assisted in removing the body. Pennington County is leading the investigation with the NPS and FBI assisting. [Captain Gregory T. Monahan, Midwest Regional Office] OTHER NEWS The following stories are among those in today's webpage editions of InsideNPS (available to NPS employees only) and the Morning Report (available to all readers): North Cascades NP - Over a 14 day period, park employees and volunteers documented plants, animals, and insects in subalpine and alpine areas to establish baselines for future evaluations of the effects of warming climates on cold-adapted biota. Today's Almanac - A deep low pressure system centered over southeastern Canada will continue to push polar air over the eastern half of the country. Temperatures will be well below average. Great Smoky Mountains NP - The park was joined by representatives from several Congressional offices and partner organizations at a recent groundbreaking for the new NPS Collections Preservation Center. Park Facility Management Division - The newly-launched Green Parks Training Gateway centralizes sustainability training materials and resources from around the web. A link is provided. Radio Program Management Division - The most recent edition of the Radio Connection Newsletter, which highlights actions occurring during the fourth quarter of FY 2014, is now out. A link is provided to the newsletter. Southeast Region - Gail Bishop, superintendent of Little River Canyon National Preserve and Russell Cave National Monument, will retire on November 28th after more than 38 years with the National Park Service. Virgin Islands NP - On January 3rd, Lloyd Morris, chief ranger for Virgin Islands National Park/Virgin Islands Coral Reef National Monument, will be retiring after 35 years with the National Park Service. To see the full text of these stories, readers should go to one or the other of the following sites: NPS employees - HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=index" http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=index Non-NPS employees - HYPERLINK "http://www.nps.gov/morningreport/" http://www.nps.gov/morningreport/ The Morning Report is produced by the Office of Communications with the support of the Office of the Associate Director for Information Resources. Edited by Bill Halainen ( HYPERLINK "mailto:Bill_Halainen@contractor.nps.gov" Bill_Halainen@contractor.nps.gov). --- ### --- |