Missing Park Ranger

[Sher]

Park Officials Hopeful As Search For Missing Ranger Continues
Jeff Christensen Hasn't Been Seen Since Friday

POSTED: 8:14 am MDT August 1, 2005
UPDATED: 11:47 am MDT August 1, 2005

ESTES PARK, Colo. -- Rocky Mountain National Park Service colleagues said there's every reason to be hopeful Monday morning, as searchers resumed the effort to find a ranger who's been missing since Friday.



RMNP
Jeff Christensen has not been seen since Friday when he left on a day hike in the back country of Rocky Mountain National Park.


Co-workers last saw Jeff Christensen of Fraser on Friday, at the Chapin Pass Trailhead off Old Fall River Road. The 31-year-old was planning to start a backcountry patrol, but never contacted park staff that evening -- and didn't show up for his shift on Saturday.

Park officials expected about 85 people to help search for Jeff Christensen, but the numbers swelled to 125 as volunteers and National Park Service employees from other areas showed up.

"We're pretty amazed at the outpouring of support that we've received on this," park spokeswoman Kyle Patterson said.

Patterson said it's tough for crews to be looking for one of their own. But she described Christensen as fit, capable and well-trained -- and said the weather has been good -- all reasons for crews to remain optimistic.

Christensen is an experienced EMT and has served on the Winter Park Ski Patrol for the past seven years.

Park officials are asking for help from visitors who might have seen Christensen in the Mummy Range area on Friday or Saturday to contact the park at [phone] to help determine where he might have been seen last.

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[Sher]

DENVER - A day after a rescue team heard a gunshot and radio signals that may have come from a missing park ranger, the search in remote and rugged terrain continued Thursday night without a further sign.



"We were hoping today would be the day with some of the info we got last night," said David Eaker, a spokesman for Rocky Mountain National Park.

Jeff Christensen, 31, hasn't been seen since last Friday, when he left on what was supposed to be a routine patrol in the park's vast and rugged Mummy Range some 65 miles northwest of Denver.

Rangers traveled to a part of the 26-square-mile search area after visitors reported hearing gunshots and seeing smoke Wednesday. One ranger then fired his gun in a standard search tactic, and another ranger reported hearing a response shot a few minutes later.

They also heard clicking noises on their two-way radios, which may have been someone trying to communicate from a spot where the terrain blocked voice transmission.

"Our hopes have been raised and encouraged by this," Eaker said. "We hope this isn't a hoax. We really believe this could be Jeff."

Christensen's family and fellow rangers are optimistic: Christensen is an experienced mountaineer, extremely fit, capable of hiking far and fast. He spends his winters on the ski patrol. He's even an emergency medical technician.

"He had a map. He's good with maps," his mother, Chris Christensen, said Wednesday in this tourist town on the park's eastern edge. "We feel he would have walked out by now if he was able. We feel he's injured."

Rescuers planned to camp in the search area to lengthen the time they could work each day. More than 125 people, dog teams and a handful of helicopters worked Wednesday, with more people expected to arrive through the week.

Searchers began looking for Christensen after he failed to report for work Saturday. His parents arrived Tuesday from their home in Forest Lake, Minn.

An Oklahoma couple vacationing in Estes Park said they spoke with Christensen between noon and 1 p.m. Friday as they were coming down Mount Chiquita. Park officials were hoping to talk to other people the couple said were in the area.

The 26-square-mile search area in the Mummy Range has few designated trails and elevation ranging from 10,600 feet to more than 13,000. Eddie Lopez, the commander of the National Park Service team that has taken over the search and rescue operation, said the terrain is steep and treacherous.

Christensen, who has been a ranger for four seasons, had a radio and a backpack equipped with various gear, though he hadn't been planning to spend the night in the park, park officials said.

Phil Powers, executive director of the American Alpine Club in Golden, said medical emergencies leave even experienced hikers without recourse if they are alone in the wilderness. Allergies, heart attacks, a simple fall, a stumble while crossing a creek — all can be fatal.

"When you're alone, there's no backup," Powers said. "If you're with one other person and have a fairly minor accident, that one other person can stop the bleeding or call for help."

[Sher]

After 8 days, crews found the body of a Rocky Mountain National Park ranger who went missing. He was found near the Spectacle Lakes area of the park.

Initial indications were that Jeff Christensen, 31, may have died from a fall. A hiker found the body. It is not yet know if the hiker was part of the massive search effort or not.

Christensen had been missing since July 29, when he left for a routine patrol of the backcountry in the park northwest of Denver.

On Saturday, searchers had been focusing on an area where rangers and park visitors on Wednesday heard gunshots and radio clicks that might have come from Christensen. More than 200 people and six helicopters participated in the search. Just after 1 pm, a message broadcast over the radio frequency being used by searchers saying Christensen's body had been found.

Christensen, a ranger for four seasons, was an experienced mountaineer who worked as a ski patroller at the nearby Winter Park resort in the winter. Park officials said he was carrying a radio and a backpack equipped with various gear, though he hadn't planned to spend the night in the backcountry when he left.

In the 90 year history of Rocky Mountain National Park, Christensen is the first ranger to lose his life while on duty.