After almost a month of search, the Big Horn County authorities confirmed the Gardner’s body findinga Minnesota hiker who disappeared after embarking on a walk in the Bighorn National Forest, in Wyoming.
Gardner had informed his wife that he reached the top of Cloud Peak, more than 13,000 feet high, on July 29, but since then there was no more contact.
The Big Horn County Sheriff’s Office explained that The latest signs of the hiker located him in an area with cliffs, rock fields and dangerous landwhich represented a high risk at nightfall.
A professional climbing team from North Carolina located this week a brilliant object under a cornice that turned out to be a backpack. The next day, officials confirmed that Gardner’s body was in the same place.
Difficult and dangerous search
The authorities stressed that The recovery was “dangerous”because it was one of the most complex areas to explore and that had already been covered by air without previous results.
Sheriff Ken Blackburn recalled that, before the finding, the painful decision to suspend the search, considering that the probabilities of survival were void after 20 days without contact.
The case was sent to the Big Horn County Forensic Office, which will determine the cause of deathalthough the preliminary hypothesis points to a fatal accident during the descent.
“While it is not the result we expected, we hope that this provides peace and comfort to the family,” said the Sheriff’s office.
The body will be transferred to Minnesota to be delivered to their relatives.
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