Who is Chad Pallansch? Search continues for Colorado hiker who went missing in Rocky Mountains for over a week
FORT COLLINS, COLORADO: Chad Pallansch, 49, from Fort Collins Colorado has been missing for over a week in Rocky Mountain National Park where he had gone for a hike.
Pallansch started his hike on September 27 when he was last heard on that afternoon. He was reported overdue on September 28.
Where was Chad Pallansch last located?
A text message on the day he was last heard suggested he was almost to the summit of Mount Alice in Rocky Mountain National Park.
Pallansch who had started from East Inlet Trailhead near Grand Lake, according to park offcials as reported by CBC News, was on a 28-mile route.
It included crossing the Continental Divide and traveling on established trails as well as off-trail travel through steep talus slopes.
His potential travel areas included Lake Verna, Mount Alice, Chiefs Head Peak, Black Lake, Mills Lake, and Flattop Mountain.
The investigators stated Chad Pallansch is an experienced hiker, a fit runner with both trail running and marathon experience who has run several routes in the park, including Longs Peak more than 30 times.
However, this was his first attempt on the route he hasn't returned from.
Helicopter and ground search hampered by weather conditions
Weather conditions, including snow, ice, and wind, has hampered ground efforts, but helicopters flew on Thursday, October 5, in preparation for a “concentrated ground search effort,” the park service said, as per NBC.
Helicopters, including heat-sensing fixed-wing flight, were planned for Friday, October 6, too. Ground searchers and dog teams will aslo be flown to several locations.
On the ground, crews have covered areas, including North Inlet and East Inlet Trails, Mount Alice, Black Lake, Upper Glacier Gorge area, Thunder Lake, Lion Lakes, Sandbeach Lake, Boulder-Grand Pass.
Besides Lowell Peak, McHenry's Peak, Arrowhead, Thatchtop, Stone Man Pass, Chiefs Head Peak, west ridge of Pagoda, Andrews Glacier, Upper Chaos Canyon, and Tyndall Glacier areas were also searched. But, he was not found.
What was Chad Pallansch wearing on the day he vanished?
Pallansch, who is five feet, seven inches tall and weighs around 155 pounds with brown hair and blue eyes was likely wearing a black ultralight jacket, black running shorts or leggings and a grey fanny pack
Eventhough Pallansch is carrying a pe navigation device with him, it is reportedly not designed for emergency assistance.
The search efforts have grown dimmer given wintery conditions and, as per Park spokesperson Kyle Patterson, four people are still reported missing in the park since it opened in 1915.
The most recent ones are Kevin Sypher who went mising on April 30 and James Pruitt, 70, who went missing since March, 2019. The others cases occurred in the 1930s and 1940s.
