Search For Hiker Missing Suspended Due To Weather

CHAFFEE COUNTY, Colo. (CBS4) - The search for a 36-year-old Silverthorne man who did not return from a hike on a 14er Saturday has been suspended.

Chaffee County Sheriff John Spezze said the search for Shuei Pako will resume "when the weather lifts," most likely sometime Tuesday morning.

A weather system rolled into Colorado Sunday night. A Winter Storm Warning is in affect until 3 p.m. Monday. Snow accumulation is expected to reach 7-8 inches.

Sheriff Spezze said the man's family was using social media to request help from the public to find Pako. He warned against doing so.

"We absolutely do not need people coming up here and hiking. We don't need people up there in these conditions."

The Chaffee County Sheriff's Office was told that Pako summited Missouri Mountain sometime Saturday morning.

He was expected to return from that venture Saturday afternoon, but did not.

Pako's vehicle was located at the trailhead.

Chaffee County dispatch was called at 2 a.m. Sunday to report his absence.

Forty-five personnel from Chaffee, Summit and Lake county search teams scoured the area Sunday. Three helicopter - two air ambulances and an Air National Guard chopper based in Eagle County -- looked for Pako from overhead.

He was not located. The search was suspended as night fell.

Missouri Mountain, located approximately 14 miles northwest of Buena Vista in the Sawatch Range, is 14,067 feet in elevation.