Please Contact Canadian Officials About Searching for David Koch, Last Seen May 25

BL,

Since I live in the area and am very familiar with Grouse Mountain and the surrounding area, I thought I would provide you with some local coverage from someone who knows our media well and the capabilities of our local search and rescue people.

I don't know the individual who went missing, but the search and rescue members have done everything possible to find David. This is a very unusual case by the looks of it. First, the time he decided to go for his visit to the mountain was very late at night and he would have known at what time it was closing. This is not some backwoods, barely maintained ski hill. It is one of the most visited landmarks in North America. That being said, the area outside of the main tourist area is vast, rugged and dangerous, both from the terrain and wildlife (bears) perspectives.

The operations are very sophisticated and the search and rescue teams that work Grouse Mountain in particular, are considered world class. People go missing in this area all the time. It is rare that they are not found and rescued. But it does happen.

Hoping the best,

Glenn

The reason for my concern, and the concern of others, is that news articles have reported that there are fewer searchers now and that some of them have to return to work by Monday.

The Lake Country Reporter, for example, said:
"There were reports over the weekend that Canadian officials planned to scale back the search for Koch because many of the volunteers conducting the search had to return to their jobs Monday."

Yes, I had heard that as well, but another factor is that several of the key members of this team are themselves recovering in hospital from a terrifying episode on Mt. Logan a week ago where they nearly lost their lives. The search and rescue crews here will never give up except for weather conditions or information that might suggest the person is not on the mountain.

All the best,

Glenn

http://www.cknw.com/news/news_local.cfm?cat=7428109912&rem=11315&red=80110923aPBIny&wids=410&gi=1&gm=news_local.cfm

" NORTH VANCOUVER(CKNW/AM980) - RCMP confirm the body of missing American David Koch has been found on the North Shore.

He was last seen on Grouse Mountain the night of May 25th.

Constable John MaCadam speaks for the North Vancouver RCMP.

"We this afternoon received a tip from an anonymous hiker that he may have recovered the body of Mr Koch and four of our members attended to the scene this afternoon and hiked to this area and we have recovered the body of Mr Koch and the family has been notified and the body is being airlifted out as we speak"

MacAdam has more information on where the body was found.

" I believe it's roughly 650 metres east of The Bluffs Trail is I believe the name of the trail in quite a precarious spot""

Posted by: | June 7, 2005 04:25 PM

How sad. What a tragic loss. I hope everyone rallies around the family because they are going to need a lot of love and support right now.