A search for the remains of a man missing since October will be called off tonight, but family members said they won’t go back to Texas until his remains are found.
About 50 rescuers cut through rugged wilderness Saturday near Ripple Creek Pass, about 45 miles east of Meeker, where Walter Benskin, 53, was last seen hunting. More than 20 family members from Santa Fe, Texas, are also in Colorado to search.
“They will do anything humanly possible to locate him,” said James Benskin, the missing man’s uncle, from his home in Pleasanton, Texas.
Walter Benskin was hunting elk alone on Oct. 26, 2006, when it started lightly snowing about 9 a.m. His son-in-law, Daniel Brandon, was on the trip with him, but headed back to camp, authorities said.
About 3 p.m., a “blinding snowstorm” dumped about 2 feet of snow in about 18 hours, said Sgt. Anthony Mazzola of the Rio Blanco Sheriff’s Department. Rescuers searched for more than a week for Walter Benskin with snowmobiles, helicopters and horse teams.
The hunt for Benskin’s remains began again Wednesday after snow had melted in the high-country area and conditions were safe, but family members have been searching for more than two weeks now, Mazzola said.
The investigator warned of the blistering winter conditions in the 11,000-feet-elevation area.
“You need to be prepared, have the proper clothing, proper equipment and knowledge of weather conditions,” he said.
James Benskin said his nephew was adventurous and loved the outdoors. There was the time he got bored working at a Wyoming oil rig and hitchhiked home to Texas – picking, eating and selling tomatoes along the way.
On Saturday, Walter Benskin’s wife, children, siblings and even his almost 80-year-old father were in Colorado to help with the search, the uncle said.
James Benskin said he hopes his nephew’s tightknit family finds closure.
“But if they don’t, he was up there doing what he loved to do,” he said. “We all got to go sometime. There was danger in it, but you don’t quit living because things are a little dangerous.”
