GREAT FALLS — Yellowstone National Park is asking for help in finding Austin King, a 22-year-old man last heard from on Tuesday, September 17, 2024, when he called friends and family from the summit of Eagle Peak in the park’s remote southeast corner.
King is 6’, about 160 pounds, with brown hair and hazel eyes; he was wearing glasses, a black sweatshirt, and gray pants.
Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks' search and rescue teams are looking for King in the vicinity of Eagle Peak, Eagle Pass Mountain Creek Trail and Eagle Creek Trailhead in Shoshone National Forest.
King, a concession employee working in Yellowstone, was reported overdue to the Yellowstone Interagency Communications Center when he failed to arrive for his boat pickup near Yellowstone Lake’s Southeast Arm on Friday, September 20, after his planned seven-day backcountry trip to summit Eagle Peak.
While on the summit, King described fog, rain, sleet, hail and windy conditions.
A search and rescue effort began at first light on Saturday, September 21, that involved an aerial reconnaissance and ground search operations in the high mountain areas of Eagle Peak and surrounding areas including Yellowstone Lake. Rescuers discovered King’s camp and personal effects Saturday evening in the upper Howell Creek area.
More than 20 ground searchers, two helicopters, unmanned air systems, and a search dog team are focusing efforts near Eagle Peak.
Anyone traveling in the backcountry near Eagle Peak since Sept.14 may have seen King.
Anyone with information regarding his whereabouts is asked to call the Yellowstone Interagency Communications Center at 307.344.2643.
