The search for a Seattle woman who had fallen while climbing in the Waddington Mountain range this past Sunday has now been suspended.
Thirty-three-year-old Laurel Fan fell during a climb in the mountains, west of Alexis Creek, during an ascent of a peak known as ‘Serra Two’ near the Stiletto Glacier. She was at an altitude of approximately 11,000 feet and was in a group of three climbers who had all flown in to the area on July 22.
Following her fall, the remaining two climbers headed back to base camp to call for help. The Alexis Creek RCMP received the call early Monday morning and a search was launched.
The search teams included a Parks Canada Mountaineer, three Parks Canada professional climbers, an Alberta Provincial Parks technician and a B.C. Search and Rescue technician from Whistler Search and Rescue.
On Wednesday, the group selected two crevasses to search, which had the highest probability of finding Fan. Avalanche probe sticks were used but she could not be found.
On Thursday, the climbers returned to the area with a Parks Canada search dog and handler from Banff. An upper site at the 9400 feet level and a lower site at the 9000 feet level were searched without success. The area had multiple deep crevasses, some of which were of unknown total depths.
Due to the snow conditions, it appears there had been continuous natural avalanches in the area since Fan went missing on Sunday.