Citing “treacherous conditions – dangerous terrain, up to four feet of snow, whiteouts, and windchills below zero – New York State Forest Rangers have ended their ground search for a 22-year-old missing Adirondack hiker from Quebec lost since late Saturday, November 30th.
At 2:30 am early Sunday morning, December 1st DEC’s Ray Brook Dispatch received a call from New York State Police for an overdue hiker who planned to hike Allen Mountain in the town of Keene, Essex County.
The father of Leo DuFour had reported his son was hiking on Friday and expected back Saturday night. State Police located DuFour’s car at the Mount Adams / Allen Mountain trailhead in the High Peaks in Newcomb, covered in snow.
Mount Allen is considered one of the more difficult hikes in the Adirondacks. The summit of Allen at 4,340 feet is reached by a 9-mile long route that is poorly marked at the beginning and largely unmarked thereafter, recently detoured, and requires fording a river and crossing several streams. In winter the route is especially treacherous.
Forest Rangers led search efforts, with 59 Forest Rangers searching nearly 400 miles, primarily by foot, of rugged mountain terrain deep in harsh winter weather conditions. Rangers located one set of tracks on the trail leading from the subject’s vehicle, but recent snowfall hampered tracking.
State Police utilized two helicopters to transport crews, drop off supplies, and conduct aerial searching as weather conditions allowed.
After more than eight days of an active search and despite continuous efforts using cell phone data analysis and the expertise of Allen Mountain hikers, Rangers have not located DuFour. Snow has fallen every day on Allen since the search began.
Given the harsh conditions, the search mission to locate him has now transitioned to a mission to recover his body. DEC said the operation will upgrade to an active search if any leads regarding DuFour’s whereabouts are received.
Searchers utilized technical equipment and temporary basecamps to search the areas tight drainages, thick forest cover, ledges and cliff bands, and swampy lowlands at elevations of more than 4,000 feet.
The weather this week is expected to dip below zero, and with wind gusts of up to 40 miles per hour, the windchill at the summit is expected to be -20.
“Due to the treacherous conditions – dangerous terrain, up to four feet of snow, whiteouts, and windchills below zero – it is no longer safe for anyone to continue searching using the methods and strategies in place since December 1st,” DEC said.
Search efforts going forward will be based on risk analysis to put effective searchers into high probability, unsearched areas. At this time, individuals should not attempt searching Allen Mountain DEC said.
North Country Public Radio is reporting that a Rangers diverted resources of the search effort to rescue “a person not connected to the official search who had set out to look for DuFour.” According to the DEC, NCPR says, the man from Quebec crashed his car on Upper Works Road on his way to the Allen Mountain trailhead.
In March of 2016, 61-year-old Delaware hiker Hua Davis was found dead at nearby MacNaughton Mountain, another “trailless” peak nearby. She had been unprepared for the winter conditions.
In March 2022, 63-year-old Thomas Howard, of Westport, Connecticut, was found dead after attempting to summit Mount Colden via the treacherous Trap Dike route during a winter storm.
On Monday, December 2nd at about 5:35 pm, Ray Brook Dispatch received a call from another lost hiker in the Shaker Mountain Wild Forest in the town of Bleeker, Fulton County. The coordinates placed the subject one-half mile off trail in the area of County Line Lake.
At about 8:20 pm, Forest Ranger Lieutenant Kerr and Rangers Hamm and O’Connell located the 27-year-old from Little Falls and hiked him back to the trailhead, which they reached at about 10:3o pm.
Read past Forest Ranger search and rescue reports here.
Photos of the Allen Mountain search provided by DEC.
