The mountains can sometimes be slow in revealing their mysteries. One of those mysteries may be nearing a solution.
In May, a new clue emerged in the 18-year-old mystery surrounding Michelle Vanek’s disappearance on Mount of the Holy Cross. Vanek, 35, a mother of four from the Lakewood area, was hiking with friend Eric Sawyer on Sept. 24, 2005, on a hike to the Mount of the Holy Cross — Eagle County’s lone 14,000-foot peak.
Vanek, a new backcountry user, split up with Sawyer, who headed to the mountain’s summit. Before they separated, Sawyer told Vanek what route she should take on the way down the mountain. She was never seen again.
A massive search followed that fall. As many as 800 people joined the search over eight days, mostly searching the west side of a boulder field on the mountain. No other clues were found.
Fast-forward to October of 2022, when a local man and his son were hiking off-trail in a boulder field and found a boot. The man contacted a friend who volunteers with the Vail Mountain Rescue Group, which re-opened the case. Subsequent search efforts — it took two tries to find the boot’s exact location —revealed that the boot was identical to the distinctive footwear Vanek wore that day.
The boot was found in an area of the boulder field searchers intended to comb in 2005. But a fresh 18 inches of snow ended the search that season.
Once the boot was found — in a remote location off the main trail — search efforts this summer had people look for the clothing Vanek was wearing or the hiking poles she used. That search yielded no further clues.
Searchers at one point in the summer planned to comb the area with dogs, in hopes the scent of Vanek’s remains might be found in the countless animal burrows in that part of the boulder field.
Vail Mountain Rescue Group President Scott Beebe said the boot’s discovery provided a clue as to what happened to Vanek that day. It appears that Vanek took a wrong turn on her way down the mountain.
Eagle County Sheriff James van Beek has a search grid map from the Vanek search on his office wall, a reminder of a still-unsolved case.
Mount of the Holy Cross is a challenging trek even for experienced hikers, van Beek said. In fact, Beebe noted, even experienced searchers require nearly three hours just to hike to the location of the boot.
The Vail Daily is counting down the 10 most-read stories of 2023.
No. 10 – Wildfire shuts down I-70
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No. 8 – Businesses opening (and reopening) in the valley
No. 7 – Dog tales and rescues
No. 6 – Clue in missing hiker’s disappearance
No. 5 – coming tomorrow
No. 4 – Dec. 28
No. 3 – Dec. 29
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In a recent interview, van Beek said after the discovery of the boot, search teams went up to the site twice more this summer, and found nothing new.
Vanek’s case hasn’t been fully resolved.
“It’s all assumption, but an educated assumption,” van Beek said. Beebe’s own educated assumption is that Vanek succumbed to hypothermia. She was dressed only lightly, and overnight temperatures dipped into the low 20s in that week. It’s likely she went to sleep and never woke up, he added.