By Andrew O’Neel
Boundary County Public Information
Two county Search & Rescue operations over the past weekend resulted in two very different outcomes. Christian Kreiger, age 36, Samuels, was found deceased by members of the Boundary Search and Dive Rescue Team in the Harrison Peak area of Boundary County on Sunday morning after a days-long search. Kreiger had been rock climbing and had apparently fallen several hundred feet and died from his injuries. Simultaneously, a search for a missing hiker, Heidi Vanderzee, Hope, was successful.
On Friday, July 12, at approximately 6:40 p.m., the Boundary Search and Dive Rescue Team (BSDRT) was notified of a missing climber reported to be in the Harrison Peak area of Boundary County. While en route to the search area, they were notified of a second potential missing person in the same area unrelated to the first missing person.
BSDRT organized and began search efforts for the missing climber, Christian Kreiger, around 9:30 p.m. By 11 p.m. BSDRT was able to verify that the second missing person, Heidi Vanderzee, was in the same general area.
Dividing into separate search teams, BSDRT began a second search for Ms. Vanderzee, and successfully located her in good physical condition at 2:14 a.m. Saturday morning, July 13.
Two Bear Air joined the search efforts for Mr. Kreiger on Saturday morning and conducted an aerial search of the Harrison Peak area. Ground search efforts continued throughout the day. Civil Air Patrol joined the search efforts around 2:30 p.m. Saturday, conducting aerial searches of Harrison Peak, upper Myrtle Creek drainage, and the Two Mouths Lakes areas.
Search operations were suspended at 9 p.m. Saturday evening due to limited resources and the high risks of conducting search operations during hours of darkness. The search resumed at 6 a.m. Sunday, July 14. Ground search teams deployed to search areas of high interest established based on the previous day’s search efforts, and Civil Air Patrol continued their aerial searches.
Searchers on foot located the Mr. Kreiger at approximately 10:37 a.m. Sunday. Tragically, he appeared to have fallen several hundred feet and had died from his injuries. Due to the rugged terrain, BSDRT requested Spokane County Sheriff’s Office air assets to retrieve the climber’s remains. Rescue 3 responded and hoisted the subject out of the area. The search operation concluded at 7:25 p.m. Sunday evening.
Boundary County Sheriff’s Office and BSDRT would like to thank all the abovementioned organizations, and the Bonner County Sheriff’s Office Volunteer Search & Rescue Team, for their hard work. BSDRT would like to remind backcountry recreators to never go alone, stay with the group, and always let someone know where they plan to go and when they’ll be back.