On Sunday Feb. 3, the backcountry surrounding the Bear Lake area where Mr. Green was last seen was again heavily used by park visitors who were snowshoeing and skiing. The saturation of this area by searchers, dog teams, a helicopter, and large numbers of recreational users provided a great deal of coverage but again with no clues.
Search teams on Sunday encountered deep snow and pockets of considerable avalanche conditions. The depth of snow since Thursday has hampered search operations. Aerial searching detected several large slab avalanches on the northeast aspects of peaks along the Divide but with no evidence that they were human triggered.
Today, search managers are scaling back efforts due to concerns about safety of Search and Rescue personnel and lack of clues and new information. The incident management team is evaluating new search tactics at this time. In the coming days, a small team of rangers will focus their search on pockets of challenging terrain in the Bear Lake and lower Tyndall Gorge areas.
The investigation in ongoing. If anyone was visiting the Bear Lake area of Rocky Mountain National Park on Thursday, Jan. 31, or Friday, Feb. 1, park rangers would like to hear from you. Please call Rocky Mountain National Park at (970) 586-1204.
Source: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service
