By ELIZABETH BLUEMINK
[email protected]
Published: April 12th, 2010 08:58 PM
Last Modified: April 12th, 2010 10:59 PM
Alaska State Troopers and search-and-rescue teams facing bad weather temporarily suspended their search Monday for a Wasilla snowmachiner missing in the hills near Talkeetna's Bald Mountain.
The Talkeetna area is getting socked by heavy and wet snow that was predicted to continue overnight. The weather deteriorated so much Monday afternoon that both ground and aerial search teams pulled out, according to trooper spokeswoman Beth Ipsen.
Charles Palmer, 30, was last seen at 7 p.m. Saturday by his traveling companions -- four snowmachiners who stayed overnight at a cabin roughly five miles in from Mastadon Road, in the hills east of Talkeetna. They later told troopers that they saw Palmer on his snowmachine but headed the wrong direction, as they traveled back to the cabin.
Palmer is reportedly dressed for the weather but he is not carrying survival gear, a global-positioning system, food or water, Ipsen said.
Palmer's companions reported him missing at 7:15 a.m. Sunday. His machine was found Sunday stuck in deep snow near Sheep River, in an area that is about 12 miles past the cabin on the east side of Bald Mountain. Due to new snow, searchers could not find any signs of Palmer on Sunday, Ipsen said.
An aerial search could not be launched Sunday due to the low-cloud ceiling, and the search has been further hampered by the wet snow and impassible ravines in some areas, troopers said.
Agencies involved in the search are the Willow and Talkeetna fire departments, troopers and search-and-rescue volunteers.
The search Monday began at about 10 a.m. A helicopter and fixed-wing plane joined the search but had to leave the area by about 1:30 p.m. because of weather moving in. The ground searchers began pulling out late in the afternoon, Ipsen said.
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