One year later, family persists in hiker search

STANLEY, Idaho – It’s been a year since Jon Francis disappeared while climbing in the Sawtooth Mountains near this central Idaho town.

Yet despite exhaustive efforts by rescue teams, volunteers and cadaver dogs, his family refuses to call off its quest for answers.

“We’re playing to mixed reviews,” David Francis, the father of Jon Francis, told KTVB in Boise. “There’s a lot of support from people who knew Jon and loved Jon and … also a number of people who say, ‘Why don’t you just give your son up to the mountain?’ and we’re not ready as a family to do that.”

Jon Francis, of Stillwater, Minn., was a counselor at a Bible camp in the area. According to friends, he told co-workers he planned to climb the 9,733-foot Grand Mogul, high above Redfish Lake. Searchers said he made it to the top on July 15 and signed the log book, but they don’t know what happened to him on the way down.

This summer, the family bought a boat to ferry searchers across the lake to the trailhead believed to be used by Jon Francis.

The family is also working to promote safety and accident prevention for hikers and climbers by launching the Jon Francis Foundation, aimed at instructing hikers and climbers with basic safety and survival information.