There has been no sign of two hikers who have been missing this week in Mount Rainier National Park/Gary Vogt file
A week of searching for two missing hikers at Mount Rainier National Park in Washington so far has been fruitless.
This time of year is particularly dangerous at Mount Rainier, as late spring and early summer conditions lead to unstable snow bridges over creeks that put hikers, and searchers, at risk.
Back in the early 1990s there was an incident in which two friends who had climbed the demanding Liberty Ridge route up Rainier were just hours from their car when a snow bridge collapsed as they descended the mountain, dropping them roughly 80 feet into a hidden crevasse. One of the two died in the accident, and the other struggled for a decade with guilt over his friend's death before writing a book about the incident. It was a harrowing incident that led to a notable book, The Ledge.
Because similarly dangerous conditions can exist on the flanks of Mount Rainier now, park officials ask that the general public not help search on their own. Falling through thin snow bridges is a hazard anywhere streams remain snow-covered, and may potentially cause new search-and-rescue incidents, in addition to possibly obscuring important clues to the missing hikers' whereabouts.
More information on hiking in late season snow can be found here.
During the past week the searchers have been looking for Talal Sabbagh in the Paradise area. The 27-year-old from Seattle was reported missing on Monday, June 22. He was last seen in hiking in Paradise on Sunday, June 21. Rangers located his vehicle in the parking lot at Paradise.
Also still missing is a hiker who headed out from Longmire, Vincent Djie, who was last seen Friday, June 19. A 25-year-old Indonesian student living in Seattle, Djie was said to be hiking the Van Trump Trail toward Mildred Point.
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