Sheriff suspends rescue mission for missing MN hiker in Wyoming wilderness

BIG HORN COUNTY, Wyo. (FOX 9) - The mission to find missing Minnesota hiker Grant Gardner is now shifting to a recovery effort as his disappearance hits the three-week mark.

Search for Grant Gardner

The backstory:

Search operations have been ongoing since Gardner was formally reported missing in the Big Horn Mountains of Wyoming on Aug. 1.

Despite the hard work of search crews in difficult conditions and the use of advanced technology, Gardner remains unaccounted for.

Timeline:

Gardner was on a hiking trip through the Misty Moon Lake area when he disappeared. He last made contact with his family on July 29, after reaching the summit at Cloud Peak.

Authorities say he reached the peak around 9 p.m. and was trying to head to a lower elevation for the night. Since then, he hasn't made contact with his family and never made it back to his vehicle, which remained parked near the West Ten Sleep trailhead when search efforts began.

Search shifts to recovery operation

What's new?:

In an update on Wednesday, the Big Horn County Sheriff's Office said it would wind down rescue operations and shift its mission to a recovery effort – meaning rescuers no longer expect to find Gardner alive.

"In consultation with family members, I have made the heartbreaking and difficult decision to suspend active search and rescue operations for Mr. Gardner," Sheriff Ken Blackburn wrote. "With weather conditions and other factors updated in our search models, we have to face the reality that the most optimistic survival odds have run out."

What's next:

The sheriff says the tough decision will give crews time to rest and begin recovery efforts. In the message, the sheriff thanked everyone who had dedicated their time to trying and find Gardner.

"Many team members feel like they have lost a battle by not finding Grant at this time, however, it was not for a lack of effort on anyone’s part," the sheriff said. "We hope clues will surface that will help bring a final closure to this tragedy in due time."

Difficulty of search

What they're saying:

This week, in an interview on FOX 9 All Day, the sheriff explained how difficult the search has been, despite the advanced technology crews have utilized.

"We have used FLIR technology," the sheriff explained. "That's forward-looking infrared radar, and that's the heat signatures that you're talking about. And we have deployed that significantly in the early parts of this search."

"I need to explain to you the dynamics of this," the sheriff continued. "In a lot of these areas, there's not a marked trail. When you get above timber and you get into these rocks, the trail really isn't designated. And there's boulders, I would say, the size of cars and possibly houses. In between those boulders are fissures and cracks and crevices, crevasses, and there's also little caves. It would be very conceivable for someone to try to escape weather incidences that are occurring up there to get in those caves and to be very difficult to see, and they wouldn't be on any kind of a trail where you could do any normal tracking. And so, that complicates it. If you can imagine a mountain at 13,000 feet with boulders and caves and cracks and crevices, the amount of nooks and crannies that somebody can get into that we're working furiously to try to clear and find this good man."