The Park County sheriff has called off efforts to retrieve a body officials believe is that of missing hiker Frank Stanley.
Three rescue workers were injured Sunday afternoon trying to recover the body, which was found at an elevation of nearly 9,000 feet, near McCurdy Creek. A horse broke its leg and had to be put down.
“Where the body is located is in some treacherous terrain,” Park County Sheriff Fred Wegener said Tuesday afternoon. “We are not going to pursue it.”
The body is 150 feet down in a cavelike area, where water from the creek runs in. It is accessible only by rope, Wegener said.
Search teams found the body Saturday afternoon east of 12,431-foot Bison Peak, where Stanley, 44, told friends he was hiking July 25. Family and friends reported Stanley missing Aug. 11 after they did not hear from him for a longer-than-usual period.
“I’m 99.9 percent sure it is Frank,” Wegener said.
Stanley’s sister, Helen Stanley Baker, said the family understands how dangerous the recovery effort would be.
Caitlin Gibbons, The Denver Post
