Rescuers hope for better weather in Alaska search for B.C. climber
JUNEAU, Alaska — A highly trained rescue group based in southwest Alaska says its members are ready to join the search for a missing British Columbia man and his climbing companion if the weather is suitable today.
Members of Juneau Mountain Rescue flew in an Alaska Army National Guard helicopter on Monday during a brief break in the weather over the Mendenhall icefield, about 20 kilometres north of Juneau.
A post on the rescue group’s website says crews only had a short time over the Mendenhall Towers before the weather closed in, and there was no sign of 24-year-old Marc-Andre Leclerc his 34-year-old climbing partner Ryan Johnson.
But rescuers say they are looking forward to a more promising forecast and they hope to get a better look at the north face of the main tower, which Leclerc and Johnson scaled March 5.