A body has been discovered in the search for a man who disappeared during a storm on a Washington state volcano.
Rescuers on Mount Rainier found what they believe to be the body of a man who went missing after two people he met on the mountain took him in during the Saturday storm, Mount Rainier National Park spokeswoman Patti Wold told the Associated Press.
The unnamed 37-year-old man, from Puyallup, snowshoed up the volcano with the intent of spending Saturday night at a stone shelter named Camp Muir, located 10,200 feet up Mount Rainier.
But a storm of more than 20 inches of snow forced him to seek shelter elsewhere, the AP reported. The storm resulted in 5 feet of snow on the ground and avalanche warnings in the area. Investigators do not know if he was aware of the weather forecast.
He descended and was able to find shelter with two other people in a snow cave at Panorama Point, but the trio was forced to leave after one of the walls collapsed.
He descended again with the couple towards the Paradise visitor center, however the pair lost the man on the way. They came across him again and one more final time before last seeing him near Edith Creek, which is located near Panorama Point and flows towards Paradise, the AP reported.
"They don't know if he intentionally peeled off or what," Wold told the news agency. "He just wasn't there."
He was not a veteran snowshoer, Wold added.
The couple reported their lost companion missing on Sunday and crews from Nordic Ski Patrol, the U.S. Army Reserve, park rangers and volunteer mountain rescuers aided in the two-day ground and air search.
The body, which matches the description of the missing 37-year-old, was turned over to the Pierce County medical examiner for identification, Wold told the AP.
