"Lost Hiker is Found
Dead"
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MT. SHASTA — Rescue workers pulled a body off the icy flanks of Mt. Shasta on Friday but continued to hold out hope for the second of two climbers reported missing this week.
Craig Heimstra, from Essex, England, was found lying in the snow a half-mile up the mountain from where he and 45-year-old John Miksits of Sacramento camped before making a summit climb early Wednesday.
It's possible Heimstra — estimated to be about 40 years old — had been dead at least a day, rescuers said, noting the man's tracks had apparently been wiped out by the 3 feet of snow that fell late this week. The cause of death remained unknown.
''They were in blizzard, white-out conditions,'' said Grizz Adams, Siskiyou County search and rescue coordinator.
Miksits' wife was on her way to Siskiyou County by late Friday afternoon, and Heimstra's parents, who live in Chowchilla, had been notified, Adams said. The search for Miksits was expected to continue early today, weather permitting.
Two unidentified hikers from Sacramento — who were loosely tied to the missing men's climbing party — told officials they last spoke with Miksits and Heimstra about 8 a.m. Wednesday by radio, while all four men were descending.
At the time, the missing men said they feared they had gotten lost and were on the other side of the mountain. But that would be impossible since the radio's range was no more than 2 miles, Adams said.
Rescue workers spent Thursday night trying to reach the hikers by radio but failed, possibly because the men had just purchased the radio and were unaware of an emergency frequency used by many other climbers in distress, Adams said.
Rescue efforts began slowly Friday as the 14,162-foot peak lay shrouded in low-lying clouds, preventing crews from searching by air. By late morning, two Blackhawk helicopters from Sacramento had arrived at the Weed Airport, where a command post was set up, and prepared to fly over the peak as the clouds broke.
Meanwhile, ground crews on snowmobiles and all-terrain vehicles scoured the slopes up to about 8,000 feet, but the fresh snow posed too great a danger to send them higher up the mountain, Adams said.
''The avalanche danger is extremely high,'' he said. ''We're very hesitant to put anyone in the upper elevations. Besides, we don't know exactly where to go. It's a large piece of real estate to search blindly with a ground team.''
As the day waned, helicopters transported several hikers — equipped with crampons, ice picks and skis — to explore a 12,000-foot saddle between Shastina, Shasta's smaller twin, and the main summit.
Officials were confident they'd find the men, described as experienced climbers who carried sleeping bags, a stove, a tent, food and water.
Miksits has climbed Shasta ''numerous'' times, Adams said, and Heimstra had scaled peaks in the Alps. Both had taken climbing classes.
Heimstra had tried to climb Shasta once before but didn't reach the summit, though officials didn't know why. Recently, he and Miksits met on the Internet at a climbing Web site and agreed to scale the mountain together.
''He (Heimstra) was looking to climb with someone who had been there,'' Adams said. ''We have all expectations that we'll find them.''
But another storm was expected to move into the area by late today, so rescue workers figured they had Friday afternoon and this morning to scour the peak before the helicopters were again grounded.
About 12:20 p.m. Friday, crews from one of the helicopters spotted a climber about 13,700 feet — less than 500 feet below the summit. But that climber waved them off, and officials determined he was not one of the missing men.
About 2:45 p.m., a California Highway Patrol helicopter crew found Heimstra about 10,000 feet in Cascade Gulch, on the southwest side of the peak. His body was recovered by one of the Blackhawk helicopters.
Heimstra did not have much of his equipment with him. His backpack and skis were found at a second camp farther up the mountain, officials said.
They had no idea why he would have descended without his pack and skis.
The death is the first on Mt. Shasta since September, when 32-year-old Rene Arnold Cuestas of Novato slipped and fell on the north side of the peak. In May, 69-year-old Carl H. Landers of Orinda disappeared on the mountain's south slope. Volunteers searched for Landers for more than 10 days before giving up.
Despite the early season, volunteers looking for Miksits and Heimstra said it's common for hikers to take a crack at Shasta this time of year.
''This is about the time people start,'' said Matthew Stuart-Falwell, a Mount Shasta guide who helped with Friday's search. ''Folks show up all the time, trying to get to the top.''
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