A search continued Thursday in Rocky Mountain National Park for Jens "Jay" Yambert/Courtesy The Yambert Family

An intensive ground search was ongoing Thursday for an Illinois man reported missing in Rocky Mountain National Park since early this week.

Jens "Jay" Yambert headed out Sunday afternoon, possibly from the Longs Peak Trailhead, but family members who reported him missing did not know where he planned to hike, a park release said. On Thursday morning some visitors told rangers that they had seen the 60-year-old man from Urbana on Monday morning along the Keyhole Route on Longs Peak. The weather at the time was poor with ice, sleet, rain, and strong winds, they said.

On Thursday the search was focused on the Keyhole Route, Keplinger’s Couloir, The Loft, Chasm Lake and the Roaring Fork area. On Wednesday the search revolved around the Clark’s Arrow, the Boulder Field, North Face, Lamb’s Slide and Peacock Pool areas.

Yambert was said to be wearing a black raincoat, gray shorts with high black socks, yellow gloves, sandals and a blue/gray backpack. He was carrying trekking poles.  

In a separate incident, late Wednesday night Emma Long, 23, of Houston, Texas, was reported by a friend as overdue in the Longs Peak area. The park's Search and Rescue Team incorporated search efforts in the Keyhole Route area for the young woman as well as Yambert. Those efforts were underway early Thursday morning when park visitors notified rangers that they were assisting a female who indicated she had fallen at some time in the preceding 24 hours above the Keyhole.  

The woman had suffered serious injuries from the fall, and SAR team members and visitors moved her via litter to The Boulder Field, where a Flight For Life air ambulance from Colorado Springs flew her at 11:10 a.m. Thursday to St. Anthony’s Hospital in Denver.  

Park rangers would like to hear from anyone who has been in the Longs Peak or Mount Meeker area since Sunday, August 26, particularly on the Keyhole Route, Keplinger’s Couloir, The Loft, Chasm Lake, Clark’s Arrow and the Roaring Fork area. (970) 586-1204.