MISSING Yellowstone hiker’s dad continues ground search without park’s OK for helicopter

Searchers gathered to scour the remote Eagle Peak area of the national park in advance of Wednesday night’s expected winter weather

The father of missing Yellowstone National Park hiker Austin King and volunteers are scrambling to scour the remote Eagle Peak area before Wednesday night, when a winter storm is expected to move in.

The private effort — which Brian King-Henke launched after the park downscaled its efforts to rescue the 22-year-old — hit a major snag Monday night when park officials did not approve a request to fly in additional ground searchers via a helicopter, effort organizer John Lamb said Tuesday.

“We felt that it was very important to utilize these next two days before new snow falls, because we may not get another chance until next year,” Lamb said. “We were not mad, but we were just disappointed.”

The park did not approve the request for the contracted helicopter because it was unable to verify if the helicopter pilot had sufficient experience flying and landing in mountainous terrain, Yellowstone National Park Superintendent Cam Sholly said in a Tuesday statement.

The peak sits east of Yellowstone Lake in a roadless area of mountain ridges, dense woods and steep topography that many consider among the most inaccessible landscapes in the Lower 48.

“We deeply sympathize with Austin’s family and their desire to continue searching for him,” Sholly said in a statement, adding that safety is paramount. “At this time, the park has limited resources to respond to Eagle Peak if something were to go wrong. The park’s helicopter is gone and there are limited air support resources capable of conducting high mountain rescues.”