Search For Adventure Aviator Steve Fossett Cut Back

I mentioned a couple of days ago that I was getting the feeling that the ongoing search for Adventure Aviator Steve Fossett was going to be cut back if nothing new surfaced in the coming days.

At this time it has been confirmed that the search has been scaled back, in part.

Rescue crews, after spending two weeks searching rugged terrain with little clue and spending over $600,000 on the effort, have decided that it was time for the Civil Air Patrol to suspend efforts in the ongoing air search.

The search for Steve Fossett began on Labor Day, September 3, after his plane did not return from a routine flight to the Flying M Ranch outside of Yerington, Nevada. 

The ensuing search encompassed more than 20 aircraft from the Civil Air Patrol making 245 passes over the area thought to be where the plane had vanished.  Still nothing has come to light on the what happened to Steven Fossett or his plane.

Most people agree that two weeks into the search, the likelyhood of finding Mr. Fossett alive is small.  Some are even suggesting that Mr. Fossett may never be found, leading many people to draw comparisons between this incident and the mysterious vanishing of legendary aviator Amelia Earhardt.

The Nevada National Guard and private pilots flying out of the Flying M Ranch are going to continue their efforts until a later date.

The area encompassing the search is twice the size of New Jersey and runs from western Nevada into California.  The terrain is marred by large ravines and strong overgrowth in desert like conditions.

Steve Fossett is a world reknown adventurist and pilot.  He was the first man to fly around the globe in a hot air balloon solo.  Mr. Fossett has also held over 115 world records in aviation, sailing, and ballooning of which 80 still stand.

Week Long Search For Steve Fossett Still Offers Little Clue

The search for legendary adventurer Steve Fossett has hit the crucial first week stage.  After a week of searching through the rugged Nevada and California terrain, searchers are no closer to finding Steve Fossett than they were last Monday when the efforts began.

Few leads and even fewer clues have all been accounted for during the ongoing massive search.  Search crews have now discovered no fewer than eight seperate crash sites, each of them igniting a flurry of activity in the hopes that they would somehow lead to clues in the search for Steve Fossett, but all of them have been fruitless. 

The huge mission being set out to finding the where-abouts of Steve Fossett have included anywhere between 26 and 46 aircraft and countless hundreds of other investigators and searchers in the last week.  Hope still lingers, but crews are getting weary and starting to question if Steve will ever be found–and if he is, will he still be alive?

Earlier this week it was learned that Steve Fossett might not have been carrying the amount of water that was originally thought-

Steve Fossett, one of the world’s leading adventurers and a record holder in a number of different disciplines hasn’t been heard from since last Monday when he took off from the Flying M Ranch in Nevada for what was to be a routine mission to scope out dry lake beds for an upcoming assault on the World Land Speed Record. 

Steve Fossett was suppose to return back to the ranch in 3-4 hours but never made it.  He had enough fuel for a 5-6 hour flight, emergency locator beacons in the tail of the plane plus in a specially designed watch that Steve always had on, and no parachute.  No signal has been recieved from the locator beacons, even a week after the dissappearance.

It is being mentioned today that just about 100% of the rugged terrain within the massive search area has been covered.  Searchers are combing an environment, littered with massive valleys, that is roughly twice the size of New Jersey.  Some have said it is like finding a needle in a haystack.  A very large haystack.  With a plane.

 Source:  CNN

The Search For Stephen Fossett Expands, Family Having ‘Tough Time’

Join the Stephen Fossett Discussion in the Adventurist Forums 

Day 4 is coming to a close in the search for Legendary Aviator and World Record Holder Steve Fossett.

I updated everyone early today with news of a few new leads and an expansion of the search area from 600 square miles to 10,000.  Tonight news is airing that the search has once again expanded, this time to 17,000 square miles.

Family members and friends who believe that Steve Fossett may have just gotten stranded–are starting to get a bit more concerned.

Sheriff Joe Sanford, spokesperson for the ongoing search for Steve Fossett is saying that everyone is still “hopeful” but the family is subdued and having a tough time with all of this.

The on going search efforts in Nevada and California are being conducted with at least 26 aircraft at this time including Blackhawk Helicopters and C-130 Planes. 

This is a major, major undertaking going on for one of the world’s greatest pilots and adventurers.  Stephen Fossett holds no less than 80 current world records in 5 different areas including Ballooning, Sailing, and Aviation.  He has been missing since Monday when his plane failed to return.  He has not been heard from since.

Earlier today, CNN was reporting that there were four new leads into where Steve Fossett may be.  Each of those leads have been investigated at this time and have turned up nothing.

An Inside Look at Bouldering

I have been gathering a new interest of late while cruising around the web.  Bouldering–essentially climbing these huge boulder faces that have some of the toughest routes in the world–Boulders may sound like a cake-walk to all of you Everest Afficianadoes out there, but perhaps your missing something..

Wikipedia defines Bouldering as the following:

Bouldering is a style of rock climbing undertaken without a rope and normally limited to very short climbs so that a fall will not result in injury. It is typically practiced on large boulders or artificial man-made boulders, however it can also be practiced at the base of larger rock faces, or even on buildings or public architecture

You have steep grades, over-hanging granite faces and life and death scenarios with no rope.  It doesn’t get much more exciting than that!

The grades for some of these routes are basically the same used in Rock-climbing..they go on a “V” grade.  Example:  V1 is quite easily a step-up..V14-15..nearly impossible with a high likely hood of some serious injury if you fall.

There are a couple of sites out there that I will be adding to The Adventurist.  Bouldering offers some of the finest climbing and photos around.  If you don’t believe me, check out some of Paul’s photos from his recent trip to California.  Paul’s site,The Adventures of Paul Robinson, is pretty incredible and covers his own climbs as well as some major news in the area of Bouldering.

There are other sites though, that just happen to give you a nice glimpse of Bouldering from the inside as well..B3Bouldering takes a look at a recently successful attempt at a V16 route on Momento.  Many of you will know this rock..it was featured in a movie by the same name a few years back.  B3Bouldering is ran by Jamie Emerson and along with his own climbs, features some video and news from Bouldering circles as well.

I have two more sites I am going to mention, then I am going to go back and add them all to a section in my links called “Bouldering”.

Climbing Narcissist is actually the place I ran across the two sites mentioned above.  When you have a story that starts out like this:

Back in High School, circa 1999, I was required to read Krakauer’s Into Thin Air for an English class. The reading of this book (several times over) changed the course of my life by planting the seeds for climbing in my mind.

What is not to like?  Climbing Narcissist covers not only Bouldering, but some fine Rock Climbing as well.  By the way, just ran across this bit of info on Climbing Narcissist:

Paul Robinson has made the 4th ascent of Ode to the Modern Man (V14) at Mt. Evans after Woods, Landman and Jorgenson. This would be Paul’s 25th problem V13 or harder in just the past 365 days

Remember Paul from The Adventures of Paul Robinson that I mentioned above?  Yeah, well–that is his new route.  Congrats Paul.  As you can see, the action can go pretty fast in the world of Bouldering.  Everyone is out to take over the toughest routes, or prove to someone else they can.

Probably the most well-known site for Bouldering happens to be a site referred to as simply 8a.  I clicked over just a minute ago to see what was going on, but it seems like the “Server is to Busy” right now.  Guess I will have to wait..Anyways, stop by and check out these bouldering sites.  I will be putting permanent links up on The Adventurist shortly.

BREAKING NEWS: ADVENTURIST STEPHEN FOSSETT’S PLANE MISSING

BREAKING NEWS–BREAKING NEWS–BREAKING NEWS–BREAKING NEWS

Stephen Fossett Missing!  September 4, 2007

 

Stephen Fossett, the man who single-handedly flew a hot air balloon around the world in 2002 to set a world record, is missing.  The FAA has announced that Mr. Fossett took off in his single-engine Balanca yesterday morning at 8:45 am but failed to make it to his destination.  Search efforts for the missing plane are currently being undertaken.

Stephen Fossett, 63, from Beaver Creek, Colorado is a world famous aviation adventurer.  After his successful 2002 flight around the world in a hot air balloon Stephen would undertake a few more high-risk challenges in the efforts of pushing the boundaries of aviation.  In 2005, Fossett became the first person to fly a plane around the world without refueling and is also credited, along with his co-pilot of setting the mark for the world’s highest altitude reached in a paraglider–50, 671 ft. in August of this year.

Stephen’s big noteriety in the aviation field though still remains his 2002 Hot Air Balloon flight that took him 19, 428.6 miles around the world.  Fossett had tried the feat previously 5 times, with more press building for each successive attempt.  Two of the failed attempts resulted in Mr. Fossett having to be rescued after the Balloon went down in treacherous waters of the Ocean.

According to FAA personnel, Fossett had failed to file a flight plan.  This has hampered the Civil Air Patrol, who is in charge of the search and rescue, from being able to find Mr. Fossett’s plane.  It is known that Stephen Fossett was planning on flying from a private airstrip south of Smith Valley in western Nevada, but didn’t return as he had planned.

A friend of Mr. Fossett’s tipped the authorities off to the missing plane and a search is ongoing.  The search is being coordinated by the United States Air Force’s Rescue Coordination Center in Langley, VA with help of the United States Civil Air Patrol.

According to the online Encyclopedia site Wikipedia, Stephen Fossett holds or has held 116 different world records in five different sports, of which 80 are still standing.  Mr. Fossett was also the founder of his own Securities company based out of Chicago, IL–Marathon Securities. 

More from Wikipedia regarding todays news:

According to CNN News, the search for Fossett began about six hours later (from time of take-off). He was flying in a single-engine, Citabria Super Decathlon — a plane capable of aerobatics — with tail number N240R, according to CAP. Fossett, though, had no parachute, which is required for aerobatics. There has been no sound from the plane’s emergency locator radio beacon, which goes off if there is a hard impact.

Fossett took off on Monday with enough fuel for four to five hours of flight, according to Civil Air Patrol Maj. Cynthia S. Ryan. Yerington is south of Carson City, near the California border.

^[7] There is speculation that Fossett made an unplanned landing, possibly crashing, in western Nevada.^[8] A Federal Aviation Administration spokesperson noted that Fossett apparently did not file a flight plan.^[9][10]

^{Please note that this information is from Wikipedia and cannot be confirmed as altogether factual at this time.}

 

 

Charles Duerig, 50, Avid Climber for 30 Years, Falls to Death in California–UPDATED

Sad news coming from WTAE Channel 4 out of Pittsburgh today.  Charles Duerig, while climbing with his brother in California, slipped in rainy conditions and fell to his death yesterday.  His family is from the Pittsburgh area.

Duerig had been an avid climber in the United States and Europe for over 30 years.

For more on this sad story, head on over to the WTAE-4 Website.  I will bring you more as I find out.

UPDATE–08/31/07–1:35 pm

At this time it is being reported  in the SummitPost Forum that Mr. Duerig had fallen in the vincinty of Mt. Hamilton, a 14,000 foot peak near Mt. Whitney in the Sierra.  This accident is being reported as happening this past Sunday, but has just hit the waves.  Mr. Duerig was a well known marathon runner and climber, hailing from Castro Valley.

The 50-year-old Duerig was climbing the mountain with a friend Sunday when the two became separated.

After the friend reported Duerig missing, searchers found his body at the bottom of a canyon at the 12,500-foot level.

Authorities believe he fell 100 feet after trying to anchor himself to a rock, and probably died immediately.

Duerig was an avid climber who had led numerous rock climbs in Yosemite and elsewhere in the Sierra, as well as in Canada and on mountains in Pennsylvania, New York and West Virginia

Was just reading the California wires and came across this. My condolences to his family and friends.

Once again, this was featured over at the SummitPost forum where there continues to be new information emerging.

Mr. Duerig, as posted by another reader, had recently taken part in the Skyline 50k.

Let’s all keep Charles’ family, friends, and associates in our thoughts and prayers.