By JON SARCHE
Associated Press Writer
ESTES PARK, Colo.- Rescuers entering their sixth day of searching for a missing park ranger were focusing Thursday on an area where gunshots and smoke were reported the night before, officials said.
Jeff Christensen, 31, hasn’t been seen since last Friday, when he left on what was supposed to be a routine patrol in Rocky Mountain National Park’s vast and rugged Mummy Range some 65 miles northwest of Denver.
Park spokeswoman Kyle Patterson said rangers traveled to a part of the 26-square-mile search area after visitors reported hearing gunshots and seeing smoke. One ranger then fired his gun in a standard search tactic, and another ranger reported hearing a response shot a few minutes later.
Other rangers later heard a radio signal after rangers fired several more shots, Patterson said.
“There is no confirmation that the responses came from Christensen, but it does raise hope that it could possibly be him,” Patterson said.
Christensen’s family and fellow rangers are optimistic: Christensen is an experienced mountaineer, extremely fit, capable of hiking far and fast. He spends his winters on the ski patrol. He’s even an emergency medical technician.
“He had a map, he’s good with maps,” his mother, Chris Christensen, said Wednesday in this tourist town on the park’s eastern edge. “We feel he would have walked out by now if he was able. We feel he’s injured.”
Rescuers planned to camp in the search area to lengthen the time they could work each day. More than 125 people, dog teams and a handful of helicopters worked Wednesday, with more people expected to arrive through the week.
Overcast and rainy conditions Thursday were expected to hamper helicopter searches at higher elevations.
Searchers began looking for Christensen after he failed to report for work Saturday. His parents arrived Tuesday from their home in Forest Lake, Minn.
An Oklahoma couple vacationing in Estes Park said they spoke with Christensen between noon and 1 p.m. Friday as they were coming down Mount Chiquita. Park officials were hoping to talk to other people the couple said were in the area.
The 26-square-mile search area in the Mummy Range has few designated trails and elevation ranging from 10,600 feet to more than 13,000. Eddie Lopez, the commander of the National Park Service team that has taken over the search and rescue operation, said the terrain is steep and treacherous.
Christensen, who has been a ranger for four seasons, had with him a radio and a backpack equipped with various gear, though he hadn’t been planning to spend the night in the park, park officials said.
“He’s very strong in what he does. He’s good. He’s been doing (backcountry trips) since college,” said Christensen’s father, Dale.
Phil Powers, executive director of the American Alpine Club in Golden, said medical emergencies leave even experienced hikers without recourse if they are alone in the wilderness. Allergies, heart attacks, a simple fall, a stumble while crossing a creek _ all can be fatal.
“When you’re alone, there’s no backup,” Powers said. “If you’re with one other person and have a fairly minor accident, that one other person can stop the bleeding or call for help.”
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On the Net:
Rocky Mountain National Park: http://www.nps.gov/romo
Alpine Club: http://www.americanalpineclub.org