LITTLETON, Colo. — A Colorado officer and National Guardsman is missing in Russia and his family, friends and coworkers are working feverishly to locate him on a remote mountain.
Olivia Beare, wife of Steven Beare, said her husband, a Littleton Police Department officer, went missing while climbing Mount Elbrus in Russia on June 16.
She said it was her husband's first solo climb without a guide.
The last time Beare spoke to him was on Monday night when he first arrived in the country.
"We know that there was a really bad storm that came in really quick out of nowhere," Beare said. "We're thinking that's when he got lost."
And then a few days after he went missing a blizzard hit the mountain.
"My biggest fear is that he's freezing to death, and he's alone somewhere in the snow, and I don't know if he's going to make it," Beare said. "I'm really scared."
Beare said a Russian team began looking for him on Sunday, but had to call off their search due to weather.
She is currently working with family and friends to deploy private search crews, along with two helicopters who will fly above the mountain once the weather permits.
"My husband was deployed multiple times and I never have worried about him, or worried for him to come home like I have the last three days," Beare said
Beare said her husband traveled to Russia to take on his second of the world's seven highest peaks — he has already climbed Mount Kilimanjaro. He's an avid climber who has taken on more than 20 of Colorado's 14,000 foot mountains.
As Beare continues to organize efforts to search for her husband, her friends and Beare's fellow officer's are raising funds to help pay for expenses on the ground.
Those interested in donating to the efforts can make donations here, or send a check to the Colorado Police Officers Foundation at 2701 W. 84th Ave. #211 in Westminster, CO 80031. In both instances, write Steven Beare's name in the notes section of the donation.
"I just picture him walking out of the storm into clear skies, I don't know if it will happen," Beare said. "He's on the mountain somewhere."
