Missing climber found dead from apparent fall at Glacier National Park

A climber was found dead Sunday in Glacier National Park, after going missing a week earlier when he separated from his hiking group, officials said.

Grant Marcuccio apparently fell to his death, based on the injuries he suffered and the location of the body when responders discovered it during their search, according to the National Park Service. They said the 32-year-old from Whitefish, Montana, had broken from his hiking party on the afternoon Sunday, Aug. 18, on his way from Heavens Peak to McPartland Mountain about one mile south. He wanted to summit McPartland alone, endeavoring to reach the peak that stands at an elevation of more than 8,400 feet.

Before setting out on his own, Marcuccio agreed to meet the rest of the group at a designated spot that evening. The group alerted rangers when he never showed up.

A search operation ensued, involving air and ground teams with the United States Forest Service and the local support organization Two Bear Air. Glacier National Park issued a formal missing person alert on Wednesday, asking anyone with information about what may have happened to Marcuccio to contact the park with tips.

On the afternoon of Aug. 25 — seven days after Marcuccio vanished — Two Bear Air spotted the mountaineer's body while flying over the area around McPartland Mountain. He was found less than a half-mile from McPartland Peak, between that mountain and Heavens Peak. The National Park Service said his body had fallen below the ridgeline, which is the uppermost edge of the mountain ridge.

The climber's body was recovered and taken to a different area of the park, where it was turned over to the Flathead County coroner. The National Park Service said Marcuccio's cause of death was still under investigation as of Monday.

"Glacier National Park staff would like to express their sincere condolences to the family and ask that the public respect their privacy," the park service said in a statement.

At least eight people have died in Glacier National Park, an expansive wilderness area in the Rocky Mountains of northwestern Montana, in the last two years. Four of those deaths happened this summer, including Marcuccio.

Earlier in August, park rangers said they believed they had recovered the body of a man who fell into Avalanche Creek a month before, on July 6, and drowned after being swept away by the current. That man, identified as 26-year-old Siddhant Vitthal Patil, was one of two tourists who drowned that day while visiting Glacier National Park. The other, identified as 28-year-old Raju Jha, drowned in the park's Lake McDonald, officials said.

Their deaths followed 26-year-old Gillian Tones, a tourist from Pittsburgh, who died at Glacier National Park in June after she fell into the water near St. Mary Falls, CBS Pittsburgh reported.