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Tonya Papanikolas ReportingSearch crews are looking for a hiker who disappeared last night in Alpine. The boy's friend was rescued this morning.
The boys went rock climbing yesterday morning. They were trying to hike up Lone Peak. The terrain turned out to be steeper than they'd expected so they started hiking back down. Problems arose when it got dark very quickly and they ran into a water source they hadn't seen before. That's where 20-year old Nathan Wallace fell.
As Eric Monfrooy and Nathan Wallace came back down from hiking Lone Peak, they got lost in a slippery area.
Eric Monfrooy, Rescued Hiker: "It was just a little trickle of water with moss. It was just really slick granite"
Rebecca Wallace, Missing Hiker's Mother: "Eric called for him for about 20 minutes and didn't get an answer."
Eric Monfrooy: "His headlamp got lost along the way down so we were going off my light. And so that's probably what ended up leading to his fall."
The two young men had hiked too far to the left and got stuck in a tight spot. Since it was getting dark, they decided to stash their equipment in the mountains. As Nate slipped, officers say he hit something hard on his side and fell down a steep cliff.
Rebecca Wallace, Missing Hiker's Mother: "My biggest concern of course is that he has not survived the night. That's a possibility, I sure hope I'm wrong."
Nathan's mom says her son is an excellent climber and very strong. It just looks like they got in over their heads.
Ground crews and helicopters are out searching today. At one point, Eric Monfrooy took crews to a spot he thought they might have been, but it was so dark last night, he was only able to get them to a general area. The brush is very thick and dense in that area, so it's proving to be a difficult search.
