MISSING CLIMBER: Maroon Bells, Bells traverse, Pyramid

[Sabelmom]

New photos from yesterday 10/11 are now available for your review - thank you in advance for your time and energy on this!!

https://tasks.crowdflower.com/assignmen ... ernal=true

If you haven't look at any photos yet, instructions are below:
Sign up or log in through FaceBook
If you sign up or log in through Facebook, you will have to go to your email account to verify. (it might even look blank after you enter in log in and password information - so go to email to check) Once you click on verify, it takes you to a weird page that is not our page to work on. Close that page or window and then click on link again and log in and you'll be on the find the missing hiker page after you accept the terms and conditions.
Step 2 - Now that you are on the missing hiker page, you might see a clock of 120 minutes on the top right-hand side counting down, it gives you 120 minutes to review each page. Each page contains 10 images and you will click a button on each image depending on what you see.
Step 3 - you might see verbiage about earning money or getting paid - please disregard. The company crowd flower does pay people for searches, but not for this group of volunteers to help find Dave. (we are paying them to have more professional folks look - just fyi)
Tips: you can use the "open full-size image" button under the photo or right-click and select "save the image" on your computer to enlarge it if needed.

[whiskeyzulu]

Ya, I talked to Rob last night at the climbing gym after I posted this. It is so crazy, fit the description and everything. None the less, going into the season where everything is covered in snow barely anyone climbs those mountains, Rob did intimately cover some nasty terrain. I wonder whose pack it is?

SAR left a lot of gear on the mountain during the search. This may be Mountain Rescue Aspen's gear.

[MountainRescue Aspen]

Just to be clear, there was a "very small" amount of gear left behind by Mountain Rescue Aspen and Affiliates during this and any other operations in the Bells. While not impossible, it is unlikely that the equipment left behind would be seen in an image. The equipment is used for rescuer safety. Choices to leave equipment behind are not taken lightly and if there is a need to support rescuer safety it is kept to a minimum. We discourage the reliance upon any equipment found as one cannot and should not depend on its current durability given rockfall , weather, water, ice, etc. The safety related gear left behind does NOT include packs or any clothing (jackets, hats, etc)
Mountain Rescue Aspen maintains a list and location of "known abandoned gear" or items "unrelated" to an operation that are not recovered in an operational period.
Any credible findings should be reported to the Pitkin County Sheriff's Office at 970-920-5300

[Sabelmom]

10/17 Update - Thank you all for your time and energy looking at photos. Between various resources and all of you, we've had over 25,000 views of these photos. We also had two private software companies run these photos through their programs. There are no additional photos to view at this time. Every photo you posted was turned over to a photo expert. The photos that surfaced again and again were sent to a photo expert and even though they didn't believe it was a lead, we still sent up a private helicopter to get eyes on the mountain for those leads to double check.
We all want the same thing, to find Dave. We still want you to post any tips, ideas, photos, or anything else you can think of to help find Dave.

Dave’s plan was to hike the Maroon Bells 9/19 and Pyramid Peak on 9/20.
On Monday, he planned to go up South Maroon, do the traverse, and then down North Maroon.
He entered the park at 11am and was identified on South Maroon at 1:40 pm.
There were cell phone pings on the summit between approximately 4-6 pm. It cannot be determined which peak the ping was coming from.

A parking attendant says she saw Dave on Tuesday morning 9/20. His map for Pyramid Peak was still in his car, although perhaps he just forgot the map. Dave did not have crampons with him but did have micro spikes.

Dave was wearing khaki pants, a long sleeve black shirt, a blue helmet, and if he had a jacket with him, best guess it was gray.
SAR and the Pitkin County Sheriffs office did a good job searching. There were multiple helicopters, boots on the ground, a plane with a million dollar camera, and SAR dogs used in the search. We were unable to use drones.

The family does not want a GoFundMe page at this time.
Again, we want your help, we ask that your comments are sensitive and respectful as the family is reading this page.
Thank you all very much

[handonbroward]

10/17 Update
Dave’s plan was to hike the Maroon Bells 9/19 and Pyramid Peak on 9/20.
On Monday, he planned to go up South Maroon, do the traverse, and then down North Maroon.
He entered the park at 11am and was identified on South Maroon at 1:40 pm.
There were cell phone pings on the summit between approximately 4-6 pm. It cannot be determined which peak the ping was coming from.

A parking attendant says she saw Dave on Tuesday morning 9/20. His map for Pyramid Peak was still in his car, although perhaps he just forgot the map. Dave did not have crampons with him but did have micro spikes.

Dave was wearing khaki pants, a long sleeve black shirt, a blue helmet, and if he had a jacket with him, best guess it was gray.
SAR and the Pitkin County Sheriffs office did a good job searching. There were multiple helicopters, boots on the ground, a plane with a million dollar camera, and SAR dogs used in the search. We were unable to use drones.

The family does not want a GoFundMe page at this time.
Again, we want your help, we ask that your comments are sensitive and respectful as the family is reading this page.
Thank you all very much

Just for clarification so that I understand this right, with the parking attendant claiming to see him the morning of 9/20, does that lead to the assumption that he succeeded in the Bells traverse? That is the first mention I have seen of him being spotted on the 20th, supposedly after the Bells traverse according to his planned schedule. Everything I had seen up to this point was indicative that he probably went missing on the Bells somewhere.

Just curious because it seemed like all efforts had focused on the Bells, whereas if he were seen Tuesday morning I would assume that the majority of the effort would have been focused on Pyramid. Not trying to throw anyone off here, but almost nothing has been mentioned about Pyramid throughout the entirety of this ordeal. Maybe there is some information that I missed along the way, just wanted to ask.

[oldschoolczar]

10/17 Update
Dave’s plan was to hike the Maroon Bells 9/19 and Pyramid Peak on 9/20.
On Monday, he planned to go up South Maroon, do the traverse, and then down North Maroon.
He entered the park at 11am and was identified on South Maroon at 1:40 pm.
There were cell phone pings on the summit between approximately 4-6 pm. It cannot be determined which peak the ping was coming from.

A parking attendant says she saw Dave on Tuesday morning 9/20. His map for Pyramid Peak was still in his car, although perhaps he just forgot the map. Dave did not have crampons with him but did have micro spikes.

Dave was wearing khaki pants, a long sleeve black shirt, a blue helmet, and if he had a jacket with him, best guess it was gray.
SAR and the Pitkin County Sheriffs office did a good job searching. There were multiple helicopters, boots on the ground, a plane with a million dollar camera, and SAR dogs used in the search. We were unable to use drones.

The family does not want a GoFundMe page at this time.
Again, we want your help, we ask that your comments are sensitive and respectful as the family is reading this page.
Thank you all very much

Just for clarification so that I understand this right, with the parking attendant claiming to see him the morning of 9/20, does that lead to the assumption that he succeeded in the Bells traverse? That is the first mention I have seen of him being spotted on the 20th, supposedly after the Bells traverse according to his planned schedule. Everything I had seen up to this point was indicative that he probably went missing on the Bells somewhere.

Just curious because it seemed like all efforts had focused on the Bells, whereas if he were seen Tuesday morning I would assume that the majority of the effort would have been focused on Pyramid. Not trying to throw anyone off here, but almost nothing has been mentioned about Pyramid throughout the entirety of this ordeal. Maybe there is some information that I missed along the way, just wanted to ask.

I was under the impression that most of the search focused on Pyramid.

However, it appears there's only one data point showing that he returned from the Bells and that's the park ranger's claim that they saw him Tuesday morning. I hope they considered that this was a false siting and he may've never made it back from the Bells. Were the Bells searched thoroughly as well?

[AnnaG22]

^that's a really good question. I was under the impression that they think he successfully summited Maroon Peak on the 19th but nothing else. (anybody else, correct me if that's wrong).
both North Maroon and Pyramid certainly have many risky spots and places which would make it difficult to find someone...

[oldschool]

It's awful when things like this happen.

When I read and re-read this thread, and remember other cases somewhat similar to this, I can't help but believe that Dave is where we don't expect him to be. Nothing conclusive makes this a certainty....but the map of Pyramid in his car and with all the people looking for him leads me to think he broke plan and decided to go somewhere else.

Although it's not 100% positive, it does seem that Dave isn't where he was "supposed" to be and that leads to the possibility he's where he's "not supposed" to be.

Thank you SAR and MRA and all that have helped look for Dave.

[Phill the Thrill]

I would disagree. Dave told his family exactly what his plans were. He was working on the Colorado 14ers list and had a dozen or so to go to finish. He drove to Colorado to climb the Maroon Bells and Pyramid. There is one very certain sighting on the south ridge to Maroon Peak on Monday afternoon. I would say it's 99.99% certain that he is out there somewhere on those 3 mountain peaks, or on the approaches to them. It's a vast area, and much of it is very difficult to search.

[handonbroward]

Interesting info to hear all around. The back side of Pyramid is a huge animal in and of itself, let alone how much territory there is around either side off the Bells.

How often are there even SAR missions around the backside of Pyramid? I know maybe some on the actual back side of the peak where the route goes, but what about into the valley that sits between Pyramid and Hunter where East Maroon Creek runs? Has there even been an SAR mission in that area? Is it possible that someone could escape off the back side, as unlikely and crazy dangerous as it seems?

I was just thinking about the back side of the Bells and the Traverse based on my early assumptions that efforts had been focused over there, only to think about how huge the back side of Pyramid actually is and how extremely infrequently that territory must be accessed.

[saxlover]

If he was heading up South Maroon in the afternoon he may have submitted early evening with sunset coming very soon. If he continued on, then he did the traverse in the dark and then descended North Maroon in the dark. If you don't come up North Maroon it is difficult to find the descent route, especially in the dark. Many rescues and tragic accidents have occurred on North Maroon after completing the traverse. I think even Andrew Hamilton briefly got cliffed out on North Maroon during his record breaking 14er completion. Everything about this story saddens me. All his family and friends, the unknown. I hope the future can bring answers for all of his family.

[djkest]

I'm not really sure where the focus should be- I think the biggest issue is we just don't know.

1) Cell phone was pinging most likely high on S. Maroon. It makes sense that he summited S. Maroon. (at what time was the ping?)
2) Was PROBABLY seen Tuesday morning by some people- but not 100% sure? But oddly later than his usual pattern.
3) If #2 is correct, that means he made it down from S. Maroon safely. Which leads to 4 possibilities.
-- a) He went to Pyramid Peak
-- b) He went to N. Maroon Peak
-- c) He went BACK to S. Maroon because he did not summit
-- d) He left and went somewhere else / none of the above

I posted these in descending order of likelihood. IE most likely he went to Pyramid Peak. AFAIK no one so far has claimed to have seen him on Pyramid, and Tuesday is going to be a low-traffic kind of day that late in the season.

When we climbed Pyramid, I kept thinking the dangerous part would be if someone decided to climb the ridge directly instead of "traversing" over to the green gully and ascending in that manner. I am assuming (again, dangerous) that the standard route on Pyramid has been thoroughly searched. Which means he's likely not on the standard Pyramid route.

We also now know that he was trying to complete the 14ers, which does narrow down his likely intentions.
I'm not sure if any of my thoughts or helpful, accurate, or useful.