The 22-year-old concession worker who vanished last week after summiting Yellowstone National Park’s highest peak is an amateur mountaineer who’d been talking about the climb for weeks, his best friend told Cowboy State Daily.
In sleet and fog last Tuesday, Sept. 17, Austin King summitted Eagle Peak and called family and friends, elated, from the top of the mountain.
One of the people King called was Desmond McGroarty, 22, his friend since kindergarten.
When King went to work as a concession employee in Yellowstone National Park in June, McGroarty decided to join him two months later.
“He was super ecstatic,” McGroarty told Cowboy State Daily on Monday. “He did say his hands were cold and stuff, but it sounded like he just didn’t care, because he was so excited he made it to the top.”
Crumbling
The top is 11,361 feet above sea level on a mountain known for its brittle and shifting footholds.
King, who works in a dining hall, had been telling his friends about the trip for weeks. He’s an amateur mountaineer but very athletic. He competes in triathlons and hikes frequently, McGroarty said.
“He’s never done something like (Eagle Peak),” said McGroarty. “He showed everybody his plan (that) he wrote out on paper.”
His friends would tell him it didn’t seem like a great idea to go alone, but nobody wanted to push back too hard because King was so passionate about the climb and eager to win the experience for himself.
“He can be really determined on things he wants,” McGroarty said.
King was due to board a boat Friday and head back to his RV in the Grant Village area in the park. He never showed up, YNP announced Sunday.
At first light Saturday, ground, drone and aerial searchers converged on the area. They found King’s camp in the Howell Creek area.
King’s sleeping bag was not there, McGroarty related from talks he’s had with authorities.
Back at the village, McGroarty has been stressed and frantic, though it helped when King’s family arrived in the park early this week, he said.
Humble Though
Despite all his athleticism, King is humble, laid-back and easy to be around, McGroarty said.
He loves the outdoors and nature, McGroarty said, adding that it is not in his nature to go rogue on purpose.
More than 20 ground searchers, two helicopters, unmanned air systems, and a search dog team were focusing efforts near Eagle Peak on Tuesday, YNP reported. Anyone traveling in the backcountry near Eagle Peak since Sept.14 may have seen King.
Anyone with information regarding his whereabouts should contact the Yellowstone Interagency Communications Center at 307.344.2643, the statement says. King stands 6-foot tall, weighs about 160 pounds, has brown hair, hazel eyes, wears glasses and was last wearing a black sweatshirt and grey pants.
Contact Clair McFarland at clair@cowboystatedaily.com
Austin King has been missing since summiting Eagle Peak in Yellowstone National Park on Sept. 17. (National Park Service) 
(Cowboy State Daily Staff)
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
