Missing climber who separated from group found dead after apparent fall at glacier national park

A week after Grant Marcuccio went missing, the mountaineer was found dead on Sunday, Aug. 25, in Montana's Glacier National Park, according to officials. Marcuccio, 32, was last seen by

his hiking party on Sunday, Aug. 18 around 1 p.m. local time, according to a statement from the National Park Service. Officials said that while hiking from Heavens Peak to McPartland Peak

he "separated from his party," but "planned to rendezvous at a designated location." That night, after he never showed up, the group alerted rangers. Beginning Monday,

Aug. 19, a search operation began, with help from the United States Forest Service and the local support organization Two Bear Air. The aviation team first flew over the Heavens Peak area to

search for him on that day and then again on Tuesday, Aug. 20. The next day, Glacier National Park issued a formal missing person alert. The search involved help from Glacier National Park

officials, North Valley and Flathead County Search and Rescue, USFS, US Geological Survey, Flathead County Sheriff’s Department, Two Bear Air Rescue, NPS staff and tips from the public.

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Aug. 25, around 2 p.m., Two Bear Air located his body from the air, and his body was recovered one-third of a mile east of McPartland Peak "below the ridgeline between Heavens Peak and

McPartland Peak." His body was transported to the Apgar horse corrals, where Two Bear Air met with the local coroner. As of Monday, Aug. 26, Marcuccio’s cause of death is still under

investigation. However, NPS said that his "traumatic injuries" as well as the "location of the body are indicative of a fall." "Glacier National Park staff would

like to express their sincere condolences to the family and ask that the public respect their privacy," the park service said in a statement. In the past two years, at least eight

people have died in Glacier National Park, and half of those deaths occurred this summer.  Before Marcuccio’s death earlier this month, park rangers said they recovered the body of Siddhant

Vitthal Patil, 26. Patil went missing with Raju Jha, 28, on July 6. Jha drowned in the park's Lake McDonald, NPS said.  The month before, Gillian Tones, 26, died after being swept up

into a waterfall "and trapped under water for several minutes,” per an NPS press release. Ambulance personnel arrived and performed CPR on the woman, but she was pronounced deceased

after about 40 minutes of assistance.