Missing Climber - Roger Jung

[Blake]

Per a forward from Paul Klenke:

 

10/26/2005 - Roger Jung has been missing for three days and is believed to have been climbing in the Cascades. His family have issued a missing persons report. They are asking all hikers and climbers to let them know if they see Roger's car at a trailhead or on a forest service road: a 1990 red Jeep Cherokee, license number 421PDV. If you have any information, please contact Jim Jung at (425) 828-6201.

 

 

Roger is far right. Picture is several years old.

 

http://www.cascadeclimbers.com/plab/data/509/4427Copper_trio_at_top.jpg

[Toast]

Bump

[cluck]

Any idea where in the Cascades Roger was supposedly climbing?

 

On Saturday I passed a solo climber about the right age on his way in to climb Mt. Washington (Oregon) at 5:00 PM. He mentioned he was trying to bag all the Oregon volcanoes and only had Washington and 3FJ left. I thought it was a little odd to be heading up alone at dusk, but that's his prerogative.

 

Probably unrelated, but figure it's worth mentioning. Hope he's OK.

[crazyjizzy]

Has this been posted on other sites? Summitpost.com? Supertopo? RC.com? That would probably help. Good luck.

[klenke]

Cluck, Roger (pictured at right above) is 6'5". If the guy you saw wasn't that tall it wasn't him.

 

As for where in the Cascades, no telling, but it was probably for a more interesting area--i.e., N. Cascades and not S. Cascades.

 

His father told me it has only been three days since the missing persons report. However, the mail has been backing up at Roger's apartment for a month. So, without a mail stop initiated, he would be missing for about this long, or longer if a mail stop was initiated and ran out.

[klenke]

Story in the King County Journal yesterday:

Family intensifies hunt for missing climber

[knelson]

Here's some info from a KOMO story for everyone to keep in mind when they're out at the trailheads...

 

...Specifically, he's looking for Roger's red Jeep Cherokee that could be the key as to where police should start searching.

 

"If it's in a trail head, or a river valley then we would - they would - and I would be up there searching that trail area," Jim said.

 

This is the license plate number police are searching for is 421-PDV ...

 

I'm assuming those are WA plates.

 

-kurt

[klenke]

Yes, WA plates but that's not important. What's important is the lic. number matching with a red 1990 Jeep Cherokee. That is, it is unlikely there is the same type vehicle with the same lic. number from a different state.

 

It struck me that one could additionally search beside logging roads. If Roger drove off a road and crashed down an embankment or forest slope then of course his jeep would not be found at a trailhead.

[knotzen]

From the article:

 

"Neighbors at the Everett apartment where Roger Jung lives haven't seen him for about a month. His mail piled up uncollected. His emergency contact was his parents, Jim and Gail Jung of Kirkland.

 

Because of tenant rights issues, they haven't been allowed inside their son's apartment to look for something that may aid the search, Jim Jung said."

 

This surprises me. It's a good idea for those of us who are single and renting to notify our landlords to give access to friends and family in the event of an unexplained absence, and/or give house keys to someone we trust.

 

I think if I were his family, I would risk a breaking and entering charge to look for clues he might have left to his plans when he last left home, in order to save his life, if that is what's at stake.

 

I hope he is OK and is found soon.

[magellan]

Strange story. I hope he's OK.

 

Komotv.com article

[whidbey]

As a young kid this would be a stunt I would pull. I can imagine climbing just like my crazy assed scuba stunts...not telling anyone where I was heading. Was it the right thing to do? hell no.. but at the time I was all about me and adventure. I really do hope this story turns out alright.

[Couloir]

I was looking at this thread the other day and wondering what the latest was. Then I saw it highlighted tonight and thought that perhaps he was found...or at a minimum, there was some resolution to this. Sorry to see that's not the case.

[archenemy]

What is the case? Still not found?

[crazyjizzy]

Any word on Roger Jung? John Rosholt is still missing for almost a year now. I find it disturbing how the media will so ignore missing people like Roger Jung and The Gambler, while giving an inordinate amount of press to a cute 18 year old who gets drunk and goes missing in the Carribean.

[Couloir]

I find it disturbing how the media will so ignore missing people like Roger Jung and The Gambler, while giving an inordinate amount of press to a cute 18 year old who gets drunk and goes missing in the Carribean.

I couldn't agree more.

[tivoli_mike]

don't forget the white part of the cute 18 year old females going missing

[cj001f]

don't forget the white part of the cute 18 year old females going missing

 

Or the completely unknown circumstances surrounding the disappearance of the adults. Hell 20,000 of them disappear a year...

[Alasdair]

Any idea where in the Cascades Roger was supposedly climbing?

 

On Saturday I passed a solo climber about the right age on his way in to climb Mt. Washington (Oregon) at 5:00 PM. He mentioned he was trying to bag all the Oregon volcanoes and only had Washington and 3FJ left. I thought it was a little odd to be heading up alone at dusk, but that's his prerogative.

 

Probably unrelated, but figure it's worth mentioning. Hope he's OK.

 

Im just reading this now, but that was me you ran into.

[Off_White]

I've "unstickied" this topic to help clear up the top of the Climbers Board, since the urgency of the issue, even though unresolved, seems to have waned. If someone associated with the missing climber feels I've acted in error, please let me know.

[klenke]

Off, you are fine to un-tack it. I need to contact Roger's father soon. If there is any updated information I will post it. Thanks.

[klenke]

No good news to report as of this week.

 

Roger's father sent a letter out saying that neither Roger nor his Jeep have been found. It doesn't look like he departed (his apartment) with climbing in mind since all of his gear was left behind. This doesn't mean he didn't go climbing after all (with other gear unaccounted for). It was really as if he (and his Jeep) just vanished.

 

It is a strange case, to be sure.

[klenke]

For information regarding Roger's disappearance, go to this thread.

[olyclimber]

We were just talking about Roger last night at PubClub, I had forgotten about him going missing and @manninjo and @rat were talking about him...

[trumpetsailor]

A partner and I followed on skis the approach of one of his vision-quest winter routes a few years after he led the way, solo on snowshoes. That trip was among the high points of my life; it felt like we were stealing something just by completing the approach.

Never met the man, but given the places he chose to go, he must have been a remarkable person to have known.

[JTCB]

Hi Everyone,

I'm an investigative journalist looking into Roger's disappearance. I found that some of the descriptions of the scene that I've read here don't entirely match what's in the police files. Can anyone shed light (or better yet, provide photos) of Roger's car or the trail log? There's no indication in the police files that Roger signed into or out of the trail log. And their description of items in his car has not remotely matched what I've read here - important distinctions being that only his fishing gear - and not climbing gear - were in his car; and that the fish in the car was pre-packaged, purchased fish - not a loose, caught fish. 

Thanks