MACABRE MYSTERIES: The Strange Disappearance Of Eric Lewis On Mt. Rainer
It seems as of late we are hearing more and more about hikers getting lost in the woods and search/ rescue crews having to either pull a body from the forest or congratulate each other for finding said lost individual. What about those people who, for whatever reason, are NEVER found again? That’s Eric Lewis’s story.
ERIC LEWIS, DISAPPEARED JULY 1ST 2010, MOUNT RAINIER NATIONAL PARK, WASHINGTON STATE.
Eric Lewis, 57 of Duvall, Washington, was reported missing near the top of Mt. Rainier while mountain climbing on Thursday, July 1, 2010. He disappeared when his climbing companions discovered that he had unclipped from the climbing rope and disappeared, leaving them to pull up a coil with a butterfly knot. Eric had vanished and after a large search only his pack showed up in a snow cave. His body has not been found in ten years. Was Eric spooked by something or someone, did his companions kill him or did his gear just fail? What happened on Mount Rainier in the summer of 2010?
Where is Mount Rainier?
Mount Rainier, also known as Tahoma or Tacoma Peak is 14,411 ft (4,392 m) high and it is located in Washington - about 59 miles (95 km) south-southeast of Seattle and north-east of Portland, Oregon.
Eric vanished when he became inexplicably separated from his two climbing companions when the three-man team was ascending the Gibraltar Ledges route on Mt. Rainier and encountered high winds and low visibility.
The Gibralter Ledges was the first route to the summit of Mt. Rainier. This route was climbed by Hazard Stevens and Philemon Beecher Van Trump in 1870 and it is now considered the "standard" winter route on the mountain.
The climber in the lead on the Ledges route, Don Storm, Jr., stopped and was joined by the second climber on the rope, Trevor Lane. At 13,900 feet, as they waited for Eric to join them, they discovered only a coil with a butterfly knot when they pulled the rope in. They had caught glimpses of him on the rope just moments before and immediately searched the slope below them. After a thorough search of the area, they proceeded to the summit ridge in case Eric had somehow skirted around them while they searched below. When he was not found on the summit ridge, they then returned to Camp Muir, the climbing high camp at 10,200 feet, and reported the incident to rangers.
The ground was covered in snow, so following Eric’s footsteps should have been easy, but he left no foot prints besides the ones following his companions. Nowhere did they find signs that he broke off from the group. His climbing gear was found by searchers in an ice cave 200 feet below where he went missing.
Searchers located Eric's backpack, climbing harness, and snow shovel at 13,600 feet, and a small snow cave at 13,800 feet. He did not have a sleeping bag, tent, food, or down jacket with him.
Incident Commander Glenn Kessler said at the time, "The search area is high-elevation glacial terrain and demands a high level of technical skill. The odds of finding the missing climber alive must be weighed against the risk to searchers operating in such hazardous conditions," "We've thoroughly searched the areas where we were likely to find Eric Lewis, and believe it's now time to scale back. Normal patrols of the mountain with a vigilant eye toward finding clues pertaining to the missing climber will continue."
Fellow climbers, Don Storm and Trevor Lan, searched thoroughly for Eric and retraced their movements. According to their accounts anyway. Perhaps they intentionally cut his rope, but reasons unknown?
Why did Eric cut himself from the rope? Was he suffering from hypothermia and became confused and disorientated after sheltering in the ice cave? Did something or someone scare him so he cut his rope? Was it suicide?
