By Police1 Staff
LITTLETON, Colo. — A Littleton police officer and National Guardsman is missing after a solo mountain climb in Russia.
Olivia, Officer Steven Beare’s wife, told The Denver Channel that he went missing on June 16 while climbing Mount Elbrus. It was his first solo climb without a guide.
She spoke to him when he first arrived in Russia on June 12. A blizzard hit the mountain shortly after Beare was reported missing.
“My biggest fear is that he’s freezing to death, and he’s alone somewhere in the snow, and I don’t know if he’s going to make it,” Olivia said. “I’m really scared.”
A Russian team began looking for him on Sunday, but the search was called off due to weather, the publication reported. Family and friends are working to deploy a private search crew and two helicopters that will fly over the mountain when the weather is better. Beare’s fellow officers are also raising money for ground efforts.
“I just picture him walking out of the storm into clear skies, I don’t know if it will happen,” Olivia said. “He’s on the mountain somewhere.”