Search efforts continue today for two snowboarders who have been missing since Sunday, November 12. Derek Tyndall, 21, and Thomas Dalle, 20, had spent the day Sunday snowboarding in the area above Paradise at Mount Rainier National Park before they became lost in white-out winter snow conditions while descending from Camp Muir.
Yesterday’s search effort focused on an area believed to be where the two snowboarders had spent Sunday night. Today’s search will begin in the Paradise Glacier/McClure Rock area of the park where searchers late yesterday afternoon had a visual of what they believed were the missing snowboarders. Because of difficult terrain and low visibility, they were not able to make contact with these individuals before nightfall.
Because we now believe Derek and Thomas may be on the move, the park has deployed a stronger search response today over a greater area of the park, specifically in the Stevens Creek drainage area. Currently in the field there are six five-person crews which are made up of volunteer members of Tacoma, Olympic, and Seattle Mountain Rescue Teams; as well as four dog teams from the Washington Search and Rescue Task Force. Searchers are utilizing a combination of snowshoes and skis. Mount Rainier National Park is grateful for these organizations who aid in search endeavors on the Mountain.
While the snow level is rising with little snowfall accumulation over the night in the search area, environmental conditions continue to be difficult for the searchers. Stefan Lofgren, the Incident Commander on this search said, “The safety of all of our searchers is of our utmost concern today, with avalanche conditions high.”
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