The father of missing hiker Austin King has shared an eerie note left on a Wyoming mountaintop by his son that was written three days before he was supposed to check into camp.
No-one has seen the 22-year-old since the he phoned mom Pandora King back home in Minnesota on September 17 after a solo climb of the 11,400-foot Eagle Peak in one of America’s remotest spots in Yellowstone National Park.
He was due to return home to Winona within days after spending the summer working in the park, but friends said he had been talking about the mountain for ‘weeks’.
Now has dad, Brian King-Henke, has shared a a note Austin in the registry in which he described the atrocious weather conditions he had had endured to reach the peak.
‘I can’t feel my fingers and my glasses are so fogged from the ruthless weather of the mountains,’ King wrote in an entry dated September 17.
‘I truly cannot believe I am here after what it took to be here. I endured rain, sleet, hail and the most wind I have ever felt.’
King explained how he was unable to see Eagle Peak for most of the day after encountering some of the densest fog he had ever experienced.
‘I free soloed too many cliffs to get here and walked up to the peak from the connecting peak – AKA not the right path. I am 22 years old and I will never forget today (for) the rest of my life.’
He ended his note writing: ‘Life is beautiful, got out and LIVE IT!’ before signing his name and sketching a smiley face.
After an all day hike to climb the mountain, it’s believed Austin finally reached the summit at around 6pm.
It left him little time to make it back down to safety with sunset occurring just over one hour later at 7:07pm. Austin would have been in complete darkness within an hour-and-a-half of reaching the top.
He had scheduled a boat ride back to his RV at Grant Village where he had been living while working for the travel company Xanterra Yellowstone.
The alarm was raised after he failed to show three days later.
And it was Saturday morning before a search team was dispatched to look for the climber who had last been heard from more than 80 hours earlier.
Austin had driven to the park in his 2006 Chevy Silverado and was planning a seven-day trip when he set out to conquer the mountain on September 14.
A boat dropped the fit young hiker at Terrace Point on a southern spur of Lake Yellowstone just under 10 miles from the mountain peak.
Two days later he was spotted by a backcountry ranger who spoke to him on the banks of Howell Creek as he skirted the foothills on his way to a cabin on the east of the mountain.
‘He was headed to site 6D8 for the night and planned to climb Eagle Peak on Tuesday, September 17,’ the National Park Service said in an alert.
But it was 7.30pm and darkness was falling before he finally reached the summit and took out his phone to break the news.
Among those he phoned was his oldest friend Desmond McGroarty, 22, who had also got a job in Yellowstone after following him from their home town.
‘He was super ecstatic,’ McGroarty told cowboystatedaily.com.
‘He did say his hands were cold and stuff, but it sounded like he just didn’t care, because he was so excited he made it to the top.’
But the excited climber also mentioned the ‘fog, rain, sleet, hail and windy conditions’ at the summit as he prepared to set out on his journey back down the slopes.
After failing to return to the Yellowstone Interagency Communications Center on September 20, park officials started search and rescue efforts the following day.
They soon found where Austin had been camping to the east of the mountain with some of his supplies still in place. But his sleeping bag was missing.
‘I’m the one who told him to come out here,’ his father told KTVQ after arriving in Yellowstone.
‘You know, I was like, “You’re 22. Go see the United States.” He took on something he was not prepared for.’
Austin, described as being 6 feet, 160lbs, with brown hair and hazel eyes was last seen wearing glasses, gray pants and a black sweatshirt, has climbed mountains before and was competing in triathlons as recently as two years ago.
But McGroaty said his old kindergarten friend had ‘never done’ anything as challenging as Eagle Peak before.
‘He showed everybody his plan (that) he wrote out on paper,’ he added. ‘He can be really determined on things he wants.’
Searching for Austin by the park rescuers continued for 11 days with a transition from a rescue mission to one of recovery occurring on October 2. A recovery means the search for a dead body.
More than 100 personnel including two helicopters, search dog teams, ground teams with spotting scopes, trackers, and a drone searched more than 3,225 miles by air and ground at elevations ranging from 11,350 feet to 8,400 feet.
So far, no definitive clues were found as as to Austin’s whereabouts.
Limited search efforts are set to continue into the foreseeable future as conditions allow before the winter weather sets in.
‘Despite significant search efforts we have not been able to locate Austin,’ said Superintendent Cam Sholly.
‘Although we will continue to hope for the best, I want to extend my deepest sympathies to Austin’s family, friends and colleagues. I also want to thank the teams from Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks, and Park and Teton counties, Wyoming, who have all worked tirelessly to find Austin in some of the most difficult and remote terrain in Yellowstone.’
Experienced hiker, John Lamb, has been helping with the search for Austin and listened to a voicemail he had left his father which shared similar details to the note left.
‘We can tell by that voicemail that he was disoriented. He admits he came up the wrong path … he possibly didn’t know the right path to take down, to head back down to the lake,’ Lamb told Cowboy State Daily.
‘You can tell he’s scared (in the voicemail), he’s cold — he doesn’t really know where he’s at. It took him all day to get there, so you can just imagine trying to come down a mountain not seeing at all, and not knowing where you’re at up there and which direction to go.’
Park authorities are planning another large aerial search this Sunday while the weather is still decent.
‘We’ve been told to be careful. Some of the guys working on that — there’s rocks falling. We’re very aware of that,’ said Lamb.
A GoFundMe page has been set up to help pair for some of the search and recovery expenses.
Austin’s dad Brian posted a note to his Facebook page on Friday thanking those who had helped him in the search so far.
‘The people of Cody Wyonming have opened their hearts to my family open their hearts without hesitation. I am truly blessed for everything.
‘I also want to say to my family, friends and everyone around this amazing country I’m at a loss for words of all the support. I am truly grateful for each and every one of you. From every ounce of my mind, body and soul I am truly grateful for everything.’