2 missing men found in park; 1 dead

Rangers in Grand Teton National Park looked for two men who were missing in separate incidents Tuesday. One of those was a hiker who was found dead.

The body of an overdue hiker was found Tuesday at the mouth of Cascade Canyon.

Will Cornyn, 36, of San Francisco, did not have a pulse when one of several search teams found him lying below a steep cliff band near Inspiration Point. Park medical personnel pronounced him dead there around 2:50 p.m.

According to a news release from the park, Cornyn headed out late Sunday afternoon from the southeast shore of Jenny Lake with a goal to hike to Lake Solitude in the North Fork of Cascade Canyon. He did not return to his campsite at Jenny Lake on Sunday evening, and his girlfriend reported him overdue Monday. Cornyn had not planned for an overnight stay in the backcountry and did not carry equipment necessary for spending a night in the mountains.

After available personnel conducted a smaller-scale search Monday, 74 searchers began to look for him Tuesday by ground and air. Thunderstorms hampered the aerial search.

As emergency crews search for Cornyn, another search was launched for a missing guided party that missed a routine check-in call Monday evening.

At 8:45 a.m. Tuesday, a Teton Interagency contract helicopter with two rangers on board looked for the missing party. Scott Huntsman, 48, of Salt Lake City, and his climbing guide with Exum Mountain Guides had been climbing the Grand Traverse of the Teton peaks and had just descended to Gunsight Notch above Valhalla Canyon around 4 p.m. Monday when a rockfall, possibly triggered by the afternoon rainstorm, struck Huntsman and hurt his foot.

The climbers’ rope was trapped by the rockfall, and they had to cut it free. Using the remaining 120 feet of rope, the two climbers rappelled to a point in Gunsight Couloir, where they settled in for the night on a ledge. Early Tuesday morning, the Exum guide helped Huntsman descend over snow to a location near the bottom of Valhalla Canyon where a rescue helicopter could land. He then hiked out to seek help from park rangers.

The Exum guide encountered searchers in Cascade Canyon who were looking for Cornyn. The helicopter that was originally looking for Cornyn was able to land near Huntsman. He was treated at St. John’s Medical Center in Jackson, Wyoming.