Marc Andre Leclerc is shown in a photo from a GoFundMe page. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO
A 24-year-old climber based in Squamish and his friend have died during an expedition in Alaska.
On a Tuesday night Facebook post, Marc-Andre Leclerc's father Serge wrote, "Sadly we have lost 2 really great climbers and I lost a son I am very proud of. My heart is so broken...Part of me is gone with him..."
Alaska State Troopers were notified at 10 p.m. on March 7 that, following a major snowstorm, Leclerc and Johnson, 44 of Alaska, were late returning from a climb in the Mendenhall Ice Field in Juneau.
Everyone knew the two experiened climbers had summitted the towers because on March 5 Leclerc posted a photo of the snow-capped mountains on Instagram.
Juneau Mountain Rescue personnel and the U.S. Coast Guard were deployed to search for the two men by ground and by helicopter.
The search party found the mens' ski gear, but there was no sign they had managed to get to it after their climb.
“We did locate gear that would have been used to allow them to get back to Juneau," said troopers spokesperson Megan Peters on Friday afternoon. "From where they were dropped off, it would have been a good day’s worth of skiing and hiking to make it back to the community.”
The search of possible descent routes continued but was called off on Sunday due to bad weather. It was to resume on Monday.
Leclerc's friends started a GoFundMe page to help the families go to Alaska during the search.
With files from the Squamish Chief
