FREDERIC SERRE
The 1019 Report
Hopes of finding 22-year-old Léo Dufour alive 19 days after being reported missing while hiking in the Adirondack mountains are fading, with the FBI, New York State Police and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation announcing last weekend that their search for the Vaudreuil-Dorion man is now a recovery mission.
Dufour, a physical education teacher at École Saint-Thomas in Hudson, was reported missing to New York State Police by his family at about 11 p.m. on Nov. 30 as he hiked on Allen Mountain, which is considered to be one of the most difficult climbs among the 46 Adirondack high peaks, with summits above 4,000 feet.
Dufour had driven to the nearby town of Newcomb the previous day from Vaudreuil-Dorion. Early Dec. 1, forest rangers began searching for Dufour. New York State Police first located Dufour’s snow-covered car at the Mount Adams trailhead. Rangers then found one set of tracks in the trail leading from Dufour’s car up Allen Mountain, but snowfall hampered tracking.
“Snow is at least four feet deep up at the summit, making searching essentially impossible,” incident commander Jamison Martin said. “It snowed every day since Léo went missing,” he added on Dec. 9.
In all, 59 rangers spent nine days searching nearly 400 miles by foot over wintry, rugged mountain terrain. Two State Police helicopters equipped with Forward Looking Infrared (FLIR) cameras transported crews, dropped off supplies, and conducted aerial searches as weather conditions allowed.
Early in the search, rangers found what they believe is Dufour’s water bottle near a rockslide close to the summit of Allen Mountain. His phone also registered “two pretty definitive satellite hookups” at a lower elevation on Allen Mountain, Martin said.
While the search for Dufour is now a recovery effort, New York State police issued a press release, asking for the public’s continued help in locating him.
“He is known to have gone hiking on the Allen Mount trailhead wearing a black Arc Teryx Coat, black shell pants, a tan winter hat, a black backpack and reflective sunglasses,” the release stated. “He is approximately 150 lbs, approximately 5’7”, and has brown hair, adding: “If anyone has information on Dufour’s location, contact State Police at 518-897-2000.”
“Although the outlook is not good, we hold out hope for him,” said Hudson councillor Reid Thompson during a public meeting Monday evening, adding that students at Saint-Thomas school are especially concerned for their much respected and admired teacher.