WY WY - Austin King, 22, Yellowstone National Park, Eagle Peak, 17 Sept 2024

[Happypetitvieux01]

I totally agree that the article just pulls a quick quote from Mr. Jackson, a quick “sound bite,” and his entire conversation could have been quite different. Maybe if we spoke to him, he’d answer his own question: AK left his camp intending to return that evening, but likely met with misadventure.

It seems clear, to me at least, that Mr. Jackson has no direct knowledge of this rescue operation, he’s just commenting in general. My opinion.

From my search on the web, I get the feeling that Mr. Jackson receive requests to give statements in some media whenever the Yellowstone National Park is in the News.

 

[Live_and_Learn]

I so wish every missing person search could immediately deploy scent hounds. Some have thick skin and fur and would be fine in very cold terrain. They can pick up a minuscule amount of scent, even if some time has passed. If I ever win the lottery, I might make it my life's mission to try and have an enormous, deployable scent hound troop! It drives me crazy.

 

[tarabull]

They have used a search dog team FWIW

Snipped...
...

• To date, 96 personnel, two helicopters, a search dog team, ground teams with spotting scopes, and a drone have looked for King in this high-elevation, expansive and hazardous area. Eagle Peak, at 11,372 feet (3,466 m), is the highest point in Yellowstone National Park. Teams will continue to search from the peak to about 8,000 feet in various drainages and ridgetops surrounding the peak.
• On Thursday, Sept. 26, two helicopters, one belonging to Yellowstone National Park and the other to Teton County, Wyoming, searched extensively throughout the area.
• In addition, Yellowstone staff have followed up on cellular activity by King that occurred the evening of Sept. 17 on Eagle Peak, the night King summited the peak. Staff are working with cellular forensics experts to attempt to learn more from this data.
• Yellowstone continues to partner with Grand Teton National Park, Park County, Wyoming, and Teton County, Wyoming, to look for King. Multiple crews will continue searching for the next several days as conditions warrant.
• The park will provide more information when it is available.

UPDATE: Active search and rescue in remote southeast corner of Yellowstone National Park - Yellowstone National Park (U.S. National Park Service)

www.nps.gov

 

[Lish311]

I've been following Austin's case and found this website and now I've been following the thread here for the last week. I found several potential clues in the high resolution images on Flickr. One thing is clear - he is not appearing on any photos on the mountain itself. Taking everything under account, I am working under the hypothesis that he is somewhere in the tree / forested area and that he made it down the mountain, although cold, wet and super scared and in the dark, and he couldn't find his way back to his original camp. This would explain why he sumitted, but afterwards didn't make a distress call on the mountain, but also didn't make it back to camp. Because of this, I think he walked unsuccessfully in the wrong direction, leaving himself exposed in the freezing rain over night, without his camp gear, tent or heating equipment. Because he got lost and walked way off track, he might have even encountered some wild animals which forced him to run either further out or animals which went for his food pack and he had to abandon it. At that point, I think he was totally lost, cold, still wet and out of energy and food and maybe just passed out at some point. Because he is so physically fit, it's hard to imagine that he could not still manage to find his way back to his original camp. Also, the weather in the daytime search photos looks much drier/warmer than on the night he had summited. So it seems like the worse was behind him at that point. Therefore, I think after not being able to find his original camp after 1 day or so, he gave up and tried to walk all the way back to the lake pick-up on his own without any of his resources rather than continue unsuccessfully to search for his original camp. Self-preservation suggests that you would try to get as soon as possible and as directly as possible back to help. I think he is somewhere in between the base of the mountain and what he "perceived" as going back towards the lake. Perception is the key word because what he perceived could also be completely in the wrong direction again, hence why we still have not found him.

 

[Live_and_Learn]

They have used a search dog team FWIW

Snipped...
...

• To date, 96 personnel, two helicopters, a search dog team, ground teams with spotting scopes, and a drone have looked for King in this high-elevation, expansive and hazardous area. Eagle Peak, at 11,372 feet (3,466 m), is the highest point in Yellowstone National Park. Teams will continue to search from the peak to about 8,000 feet in various drainages and ridgetops surrounding the peak.
• On Thursday, Sept. 26, two helicopters, one belonging to Yellowstone National Park and the other to Teton County, Wyoming, searched extensively throughout the area.
• In addition, Yellowstone staff have followed up on cellular activity by King that occurred the evening of Sept. 17 on Eagle Peak, the night King summited the peak. Staff are working with cellular forensics experts to attempt to learn more from this data.
• Yellowstone continues to partner with Grand Teton National Park, Park County, Wyoming, and Teton County, Wyoming, to look for King. Multiple crews will continue searching for the next several days as conditions warrant.
• The park will provide more information when it is available.

UPDATE: Active search and rescue in remote southeast corner of Yellowstone National Park - Yellowstone National Park (U.S. National Park Service)

www.nps.gov

Thank you! Apologies for missing that. I’ve just had that on my mind with a few cases. Good to know, here, and hope that dog team included bloodhounds!

 

[RedHaus]

I've been following Austin's case and found this website and now I've been following the thread here for the last week. I found several potential clues in the high resolution images on Flickr. One thing is clear - he is not appearing on any photos on the mountain itself. Taking everything under account, I am working under the hypothesis that he is somewhere in the tree / forested area and that he made it down the mountain, although cold, wet and super scared and in the dark, and he couldn't find his way back to his original camp. This would explain why he sumitted, but afterwards didn't make a distress call on the mountain, but also didn't make it back to camp. Because of this, I think he walked unsuccessfully in the wrong direction, leaving himself exposed in the freezing rain over night, without his camp gear, tent or heating equipment. Because he got lost and walked way off track, he might have even encountered some wild animals which forced him to run either further out or animals which went for his food pack and he had to abandon it. At that point, I think he was totally lost, cold, still wet and out of energy and food and maybe just passed out at some point. Because he is so physically fit, it's hard to imagine that he could not still manage to find his way back to his original camp. Also, the weather in the daytime search photos looks much drier/warmer than on the night he had summited. So it seems like the worse was behind him at that point. Therefore, I think after not being able to find his original camp after 1 day or so, he gave up and tried to walk all the way back to the lake pick-up on his own without any of his resources rather than continue unsuccessfully to search for his original camp. Self-preservation suggests that you would try to get as soon as possible and as directly as possible back to help. I think he is somewhere in between the base of the mountain and what he "perceived" as going back towards the lake. Perception is the key word because what he perceived could also be completely in the wrong direction again, hence why we still have not found him.

Very insightful @Lish311. That is a perfectly plausible scenario, IMO. Sad as it is.

It you haven't already, I suggest you send your post to the NPS email at yell_public_affairs@nps.gov.

Every idea could help, especially for exhausted searcher and ranger minds who may be struggling for new ideas.

And WELCOME TO WEBSLEUTHS, @Lish311! Good to have you on the team.

 

[RedHaus]

Randomly found this FB post from the fellow who dropped Austin off by boat Sat., 9/14/204. Along with a more complete image of that drop off, including AK's full gear (well, at least his pack).

I can't seem to find out where they're RV and boat are based, so with this, I cannot resolve the question as to whether AK left his white truck at Grant Village (my theory) or at Bridge Bay. But that seems moot at this point.

I just want to make sure the word gets out about the hiker Mark saw on 9/20/2024 that NPS wants to talk to.

 

[Tower]

I so wish every missing person search could immediately deploy scent hounds. Some have thick skin and fur and would be fine in very cold terrain. They can pick up a minuscule amount of scent, even if some time has passed. If I ever win the lottery, I might make it my life's mission to try and have an enormous, deployable scent hound troop! It drives me crazy.

As noted by other commenters and media, dog searches have been done during this rescue operation.

I truly understand your frustration and wish these folks could be found. But I hike with dogs frequently and this terrain is brutal for humans and dogs. This is not a trail rescue mission, it’s steep, rocky and technical. Finding the right combination of top tier mountaineering dog plus scent expert would be challenging and they did try their best and apparently found a dog fitting this description. I believe if AK slipped in this area, no human or dog could easily get to him.

ETA: My understanding is wind and heavy snow could also hinder a dog’s ability to find AK as well as shorten the time periods dogs or humans could stay out in the elements looking for him.
Moo

 

[RedHaus]

I decided to try to map AK's likely trek path from his drop off (I am presuming at Trail Bay, as it seems to match the image from Next Trekking Adventure ^), to Eagle Pass (unlabeled, but east of Eagle Peak). Eagle Pass is where the marked Mountain Creek Trail ends. Folks who summit Eagle Peak forge the ridge and then switchbacks from Eagle Pass without trail markings. That would be extra treacherous and difficult to find in the fog / dark or snow cover.

If AK made it down from Eagle Peak Summit on 9/17 (or morning of 9/18 if he chose to bivouac in place (cave) at the summit), it is possible in the dark (9/17 night) or in the snow (9/18 am) he missed Mountain Creek Trail back to his campsite at 6D8. So I circled in red the areas below tree line where AK could have gotten lost and may still be.

The one thing I noticed while using this satellite map, is there is no way back to Yellowstone Lake to the North. The range that includes Eagle Peak just keeps going. If he got lost, I just hope he has a compass to keep is bearings.

This is of course elementary to SAR or NPS rangers. I am sharing this here more to help anyone here.