Team of all-women Colorado mountain rescuers may have solved mysterious disappearance of Michelle Vanek
Nineteen years after her disappearance, a team of all-women volunteer Colorado mountain rescuers have found likely clues to where missing climber Michelle Vanek was all this time. Vanek disappeared in September of 2005 in a climb of Mount of the Holy Cross.
A mother of four, ages 1 to 16, she had gone hiking with a climbing partner and felt ill. At a point in the climb, they decided the partner would continue on to the summit. She would stay behind and head down. She was never seen alive again.
Extensive searching at the time netted no clues as to what happened to her. Hundreds of people volunteered and joined the effort. The family and friends even paid for additional helicopters to join the search to supplement those already there.
A dream leads to the formation of a special search team
The only apparent clue was a boot found by a hiker in 2022, believed to belong to Vanek. No other items or remains were located through the years. But last fall, Vail Mountain Rescue's leader Scott Beebe had a vision in a dream.
"He had a dream that Michelle Vanek's soul, remains, body, didn't want to be found by a man," said the rescue service's chief of staff Emily Brown. "So he asked me if I would lead with a new perspective in a women-led search."
The group she put together considered all of the available material and the route. They studied maps and considered what may have happened.
"We thought were looking at maps sitting here in a building there were really plausible explanations," said team member, Vail Mountain Rescue's Jennifer Pirog. "Then once you're up there and you're in the zone, you can say, 'Nah this doesn't seem likely,' and you can really narrow down your search area."
The boot made them consider new areas, but they know they wanted to start from the last point Michelle Vanek was seen when her climbing partner went on.
"This new information really just kind of like created like a blank canvas almost to start thinking outside the box," said Pirog.
Women's perspective "really changed things"
After months of planning the team went up when the snowmelt was greatest. The team started where she was last seen then split up and took their own routes down.
"We stood, exactly where she was and walked presumably her exact trail as a woman, from the perspective of a man, with the instructions of a man. And it led us right to her. So I think the women's perspective really changed things," said Brown.
Vail Mountain Rescue volunteer Erika German and another searcher made the discovery.
"The last thing she was wearing a red shirt. We saw a little bit of red and then we saw one of the ski poles and that was when it became a moment," said German. "We're used to looking at her photograph and then seeing it in real life, it's pretty unbelievable. It's like, both of us started shaking and we were just like, 'OK we've got to sit down for a moment.' Because we're not in like the most stable terrain and so we need to get our wits about us before we do anything else."
The discovery doesn't answer what happened. That is still to be answered. The belongings, including a pack containing a blue hat identical to the one she was wearing in the last known photo of Vanek snapped by her climbing partner, all are getting forensic testing to see if they are a match. But the likelihood of it being from someone else is certainly low.
Area of discovery being kept under wraps
Eagle County Sheriff James van Beek said he had kept a map of the search area on his wall since he took the job more than 10 years ago. In a statement he noted the women involved in the recovery of Vanek's apparent belongings were all volunteer who have full-time jobs and families.
"This discovery is heavy and is felt deeply in our community. Michelle has been close to our hearts since the moment she went missing. We owe this group our deepest gratitude for the sacrifices they've made and the hope they continue to inspire."
Vanek's family, too, is said to be very thankful.
The area of the discovery is being kept under wraps by investigators as they further study the area. One thing recognized by the searchers was that the location where her partner left her ultimately was not far from a trail down.
"I've been in that spot before and I didn't think about her then. I think what was really shocking on the day that we searched, being where she was, was to see how close the trail that she would have been heading towards was," said Vail Mountain Rescue's Camille Rohrlich. "Reading the story it was like, why would they ever split up? And being in that spot it was like, of course, the trail is right there."
Bringing closure after a search of nearly two decades
The women on the team are glad to have figured out where Michelle Vanek was all this time.
"Because those searches we go on and you don't find people even the first day. You go home and you can't sleep at night and you're like, what happened to them?" said Jennifer Pirog.
"I'm really honored and glad I can bring closure to so many people. Family, friends and rescue workers and the 800 plus people that have been searching for her for 19 years."
