Climbing
Searchers looking for Steven Beare, the Littleton, Colorado Police Officer who went missing on Mount Elbrus three months ago, discovered two other bodies on Sunday, according to local Denver news.
Steven Beare, 32, went missing on 14th June, 2017, during a solo ascent of 18,510ft Mount Elbrus, Russia, when he failed to contact his wife as planned. In the days following his disappearance, a series of storms swept the mountain, blanketing it with fresh snow. The local rescue team immediately began a search for Steven but called off their search at the end of June due to too much snow and harsh weather conditions. His exact location is unknown due to a severe blizzard.
Don Bowie, an athlete from California, has taken up the task of finding Steven. After the initial search he had to wait for the snowpack to retreat during the summer months to enable him to resume the search. Over the summer, literally thousands of guides and climbers ascended Mount Elbrus but no sign of Steven has been found.
On the Facebook page, Search for Steven, Don explained how they had recovered two other bodies:
Incredibly, today we recovered the body of a second climber on Mount Elbrus. She was a well known Sport Master level climber, and a board member of the Russian Climbing Federation who went missing in 1991. She carried with her a Soviet era passport, pictures of her two sons, and an extensive diary. Her sons in St. Petersburg, Russia have been informed that she has been found, after 26 years.
Beare, an officer at Littleton Police Department and a Colorado National Guardsman with two combat tours of duty, was an experienced alpinist who was climbing Mount Elbrus, the highest peak in Europe, in pursuit of bagging the seven summits. He completed Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa in February of 2015 and climbed one of the world’s volcanic peaks, Mount Orizaba in Mexico in March of 2017. Steven has completed 24 of the 53 Colorado 14ers. Mount Elbrus in Russia, the European peak, would be his second world summit, and second volcanic summit. He had plans to climb Denali (Mount McKinley) the North American peak in June of 2018 and Aconcagua the South American peak soon after. He was going to wait for his children to be older to complete the Australian summit of Mount Kosciuszko when they would be able to join him and his wife.
In their 100+ days on Mount Elbrus search crews have interviewed climbers and locals. They’ve also combed over many of the mountain’s features several times. Steven’s wife Olivia says she will continue to look for Steven until he is found.
A page has been set up for those wanting to support the search effort by donating to help cover helicopter flight-time and expenses. Finding Steven will bring great comfort to his family and friends, and help secure benefits for his wife Olivia and their young children.
