Missing snowshoer may have fallen over edge of Crater Lake, officials say

Authorities say a snowshoer may have may have fallen more than 1,000 feet over the edge of Crater Lake.

National Park officials said Wednesday that the man was last seen April 28 and was reported missing two days later.

McCabe said rangers began an immediate search near the rim and found snowshoe tracks leading from a trail onto a snow cornice that collapsed.

A ground and air search found no trace of the man, whose family asked that all of his personal information be kept “very private,” McCabe said.

If the man was on the cornice that collapsed, he would have fallen 1,100 feet down the crater rim into deep snow in an area that is inaccessible now and won’t be accessible until late June, she said.

Cornices occur when snow is blown over steep and sharp terrain like the rim of Crater Lake.

“Cornices are very deceptive,’’ McCabe said. “You might think you’re walking uphill but it’s actually a cornice and there is nothing underneath you but air.”

Agencies/Canadajournal