Search efforts continued through the weekend for missing runner Chad Pallansch in Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado. Search teams included ground searchers, dog teams, and a State of Colorado Department of Fire Prevention and Control (DFPC) drone team. A DFPC helicopter assisted efforts by inserting ground teams, and searchers were onboard the aircraft conducting aerial reconnaissance. Recent efforts were focused on areas around Black Lake, Lake Powell, Stone Man Pass, Chiefs Head Peak, McHenry’s Peak, Mount Alice, and surrounding ridgeline areas. Search efforts have not provided further clues at this point. Investigations are ongoing, and NPS Search and Rescue Team members continue to review aerial photographs and drone footage.
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Broad-scale search efforts are being suspended, but patrols will continue to occur in the search area when conditions warrant, and further actions may be considered. Reported clues will be investigated as appropriate. Chad Pallansch is still a missing person, and our investigation will continue.
The closure that was put in place this weekend to limit scent distractions and assist the effectiveness of the dog teams has been lifted.
Pallansch, 49, of Fort Collins, Colorado, was reported overdue on September 28, and park rangers confirmed his vehicle was still parked at the North Inlet Trailhead on the west side of Rocky Mountain National Park. Pallansch was last heard from around noon on Wednesday, September 27, when a text that was received at that time indicated he was almost to the summit of Mount Alice and roughly 7 miles from the Bear Lake area.
Pallansch started from the East Inlet Trailhead near Grand Lake on Wednesday, September 27. His reported itinerary was an expansive 28-mile route which included crossing the Continental Divide and traveling on established trails as well as off-trail travel through steep talus slopes. Potential travel areas include Lake Verna, Mount Alice, Chiefs Head Peak, Black Lake, Mills Lake, and Flattop Mountain. Pallansch had not attempted this route previously but is an experienced trail runner who has run numerous routes in the park, including Longs Peak, more than 30 times.
Pallansch is described as 5’7,” 155 pounds, with brown hair and blue eyes. He is described as a fit runner with both trail running and marathon experience. He is likely wearing a black ultralight jacket, black running shorts or leggings, and a grey fanny pack. Pallansch had personal navigation with him, but the device was not designed for emergency assistance.
Search efforts have included air reconnaissance, a drone team, heat sensing fixed-wing flights, dog teams, as well as ground crews on the North Inlet and East Inlet Trails, Mount Alice, Black Lake, Upper Glacier Gorge area, Thunder Lake, Lion Lakes, Sandbeach Lake, Boulder-Grand Pass, Lowell Peak, McHenry’s Peak, Arrowhead, Thatchtop, Stone Man Pass, Chiefs Head Peak, west ridge of Pagoda, Andrews Glacier, Upper Chaos Canyon, and Tyndall Glacier areas.
Assisting Rocky Mountain National Park Search and Rescue Team members include Larimer County Search and Rescue (LCSAR), Grand County Search and Rescue (GCSAR), Rocky Mountain Rescue Group (RMR), Front Range Rescue Dogs (FRRD), Colorado Search and Rescue Association (CSAR), Alpine Rescue Team, El Paso County Search and Rescue, aircraft from the State of Colorado Department of Fire Prevention and Control (DFPC), Northern Colorado Interagency Helitack (US Forest Service) and a contracted helicopter with Trans Aero.
If you have information that could help investigators, if you may have seen or know Chad Pallansch, or if you were in the areas listed above on September 27, please contact us. You don’t have to tell us who you are, but please tell us what you know. CALL the National Park Service Investigative Services Bureau Tip Line 888-653-0009, ONLINE form go.NPS.gov/SubmitATip or EMAIL nps_isb@nps.gov.
