Search off for missing snowmachiner

TALKEETNA — The search for a snowmachiner who got lost over the weekend on Bald Mountain has been suspended indefinitely.

“Efforts to find a snowmachiner lost in the Bald Mountain area since Saturday night were suspended on Wednesday night pending new leads pointing to the whereabouts of 30-year-old Wasilla resident Charles Palmer V emerge,” trooper spokeswoman Beth Ipsen wrote in a press release.

Palmer was last seen Saturday evening, heading the wrong direction when his party went to return to the cabin they were staying in near Sheep Creek. Troopers located his snowmachine early on in the search. Bad weather in the area has hampered search efforts all week, periodically grounding search aircraft.

Things on the ground weren't any much easier. Troopers say 28 inches of snow accumulated in the area this week, making it tough for searchers, even those on snowmachines, to get around.