A search team arrived in Stanley on Thursday to continue looking for missing hiker Jon Francis, 24, who disappeared on Grand Mogul, in the Sawtooth Mountains, on July 15.
An earlier, two-week-long search was concluded without finding any sign of the lost man.
Francis' father, David Francis, said the new group consists of three family members and several of Francis' friends from Ascension Lutheran Church in Ogden, Utah, where he served as youth minister, as well as mountain search dogs and handlers.
Francis said the group intends to cover additional areas of interest that were reviewed on a topographical map.
He said Sawtooth Mountain Guides from Stanley are advising the new team. They will use Global Positioning System (GPS) technology to map the areas covered during the four-day search, and the data will be fed into the mapping database and reflected in the "Search" section on www.jonfrancis.org.
Evidence indicated that Jon Francis reached the summit of Grand Mogul, but he disappeared on the descent. An avid outdoorsman and experienced hiker, Francis had told friends at the Luther Heights Bible Camp, where he worked as a camp counselor, that he would return by 6 p.m. When he failed to show up, staff alerted authorities and the family.
Custer County authorities did an initial three-day search. Volunteers and the Sawtooth Mountain Guides then searched the mountain and environs over a two-week period.
"The Francis family is deeply grateful to the people of Minnesota, Utah and Idaho and many other places for their support and generosity," David Francis said.
JON FRANCIS
