Mount Rainier National Park officials said Sunday they would resume a ground search for a missing University of Washington professor/Rebecca Latson file

Two days after announcing they were scaling back the search for a University of Washington professor missing in the backcountry of Mount Rainier National Park, park officials announced Sunday that they were sending searchers back into the field.

Officials said improving weather conditions spurred the decision to resume the ground search for Sam Dubal, who headed out from Mowich Lake on October 9 for an overnight trek and never returned. On Friday the park said extensive search efforts over ten days had not located located any signs of Dubal, who had joined the university staff in June, and that they were scaling back ground efforts.

Rangers believe Dubal went missing while hiking the Mowich Lake area of Mount Rainier, an area that includes rugged, remote wilderness. The search area ranges from 2,000-5,000 feet in elevation and includes dense forests, treacherous rocky terrain, exposed subalpine meadows and mountain lakes and streams including a section of the Carbon River. Several recent winter storms have blanketed much of the area in snow, and temperatures have been in the high 20s to low 30s  with temperatures below freezing as low as 1,500 feet in elevation.

A storm on October 10, the day after Dubal began his hike, washed out the rustic river crossing he would have used to cross the Carbon River. 

Mowich Road typically closes for the season during mid-October, and is currently closed due to winter conditions. Icy road conditions across the park have also delayed public vehicle access from Longmire to the popular Paradise area as of Sunday morning.

During the first ten days of searching efforts included ground-based field teams, canine teams, drones, helicopters and the use of Forward Looking Infrared heat detection cameras from the air.   

The NPS asks anyone who may have any information that could help investigators to contact the NPS Investigative Service Branch (ISB) Tip Line. CALL or TEXT at (888) 653-0009, EMAIL [email protected] or submit tips ONLINE at www.nps.gov/ISB.   

In a release the park said staff is continually monitoring search area conditions, as well as localized weather, which can change rapidly due to Mount Rainier’s terrain and the mountain’s impact on local weather conditions. Search leaders evaluate the safety and feasibility of all search activities to ensure safety for park and partner rescue staff.

Similar to Washington counties and national forests surrounding the park, Mount Rainier National Park has experienced a record number of searches during 2020. Of the park’s more than 60 searches this year, one hiker remains missing and one mountaineer was located deceased but could not be recovered due to continuous and hazardous icefall conditions.  

• Vincent Djie went missing near Longmire in June. A 25-year-old Indonesian student living in Seattle, Djie was said to be hiking the Van Trump Trail toward Mildred Point. When he failed to return home the night of June 19, he was reported missing to the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office. He remains missing.
• In late June airborne rangers spotted the body of Matthew Bunker along the base of Liberty Ridge. The 28-year-old and his climbing partner were skiing down the mountain at approximately 10,400 feet in elevation, near Thumb Rock, when Bunker fell. Clear skies on June 29 at the incident location, along with a change in wind strength and direction, allowed a search helicopter and climbing rangers to fly close enough to the mountain to conduct a thorough search. Bunker's body was spotted in a crevasse at the base of a cliff that is inaccessible by ground or aviation teams. The area is subject to continuous rock and ice fall which pose too high of a risk for rescue personnel to access the location and recover the body, a park release said.