A massive search near Mount of the Holy Cross for a missing 35-year-old woman completed its third day Tuesday with few clues and growing fears.
As many as 120 rescuers, five helicopters and six dog teams fanned out in the rugged Holy Cross Wilderness Area to look for Michelle Vanek, who was last seen Saturday when her companion left her near timberline.
“We always have hope,” said Kim Andree, spokeswoman for the Eagle County Sheriff’s Office.
Vanek’s family, however, is “extremely concerned” and has congregated at the search command center and offered assistance and even funding for rescue operations, Andree said.
The 5-foot-6 blond woman was wearing a pair of long pants, a long-sleeved shirt and a windbreaker when she became tired and sent her companion ahead to climb the 14,005-foot peak.
Although the weather has been unseasonably warm, overnight temperatures have dropped below freezing at higher elevations, and Vanek did not have a pack with extra clothes, food and water.
Searchers scoured the craggy Bowl of Tears area below the cliff like east face of the mountain and were relieved to find no sign of Vanek, and a watch discovered hanging on a branch along the Fall Creek Trail gave hope that she might be trying to leave clues, Andree said.
Vanek’s companion, whose name has not been revealed, has been searching along with crews from six counties, the Rocky Mountain and Alpine rescue groups and a team from Logan County, Utah.
Meanwhile, rescuers in Gunnison County on Tuesday retrieved the body of 66-year-old Jose Lopez of Glenwood Springs, who apparently fell to his death while climbing Snowmass Mountain.
Lopez, who had been the subject of a six-day search, was found about 1,200 feet down an avalanche chute, said Gunnison County Undersheriff Rick Besecker.
“All of the injuries are consistent with a lengthy fall,” he said.
Staff writer Steve Lipsher can be reached at 970-513-9495 or slipsher@denverpost.com.
