Officials this weekend reopened a road to parts of Mount Rainier National Park that were cut off in mid-January storms, but an active search for four missing people, including a 30-year-old Atlanta woman, is no longer being conducted.
Park officials are asking people to look for clues related to Michelle Trojanowski, her fellow camper Mark Vucich, 37, of San Diego, and two climbers -- Sork "Erik" Yang, of Springfield, Ore., and Seol Hee Jin, of Korea.
Efforts to find the missing visitors have been downgraded to an "extended, limited, continuous search," the Tacoma, Wash., News-Tribune reported.
The newspaper said that the park is handing out flyers, asking people to report any physical evidence, though not tracks, of the missing campers and climbers. Park officials are not encouraging visitors to search the mountain's treacherous backcountry.
“Both parties are presumed to have been trapped by blizzard conditions, and despite extensive searches, no evidence of their fate has yet been found,” the flyer said.
“Hikers, skiers and climbers traveling between Paradise, Panorama Point, Camp Muir and the Summit should report any physical evidence they come across that might be related to the missing parties. We are interested in camping gear, clothing or any other physical clues, but not tracks.”
Those who find anything were urged to take photos, obtain GPS coordinates and report the discovery to rangers.
Trojanowski and Vucich started hiking to Muir Snowfield, 10,000 feet above sea level, on Jan. 12. They were expected back three days later, on Jan. 15 -- a day after the first snowstorm hit the mountain -- and were reported overdue when they did not show up. Two more storms quickly followed.
At that height, snow depths of up to 20 feet were reported, with drifts reaching 50 feet. A break in the weather Jan. 23 allowed mountaineers on the ground and searchers in a helicopter to look for the missing visitors, but they found no sign of them.
Officials at first were hopeful that Trojanowski and Vucich were prepared for cold-weather camping, having taken a sturdy tent, good sleeping bags, food and a stove. But those hopes faded as time passed.
-- The Associated Press contributed to this article.
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