Oregon Search Crews Still Confident of Finding Missing Professor

The search for Daming Xu was hampered Saturday by low clouds and fog which grounded all air search units.

Photo: uoregon.edu

(McKENZIE BRIDGE, Ore.) - Search crews looking for a missing University of Oregon professor who became lost during a hike to the summit of Olallie Mountain last Sunday have found a $20 bill, a candy bar wrapper, footprints in the snow, but still have no clues where Daming Xu is.

Lane County Sheriff Russ Burger says crews - who are working around the clock - have searched almost all of the established hiking trails and most of the wilderness east of Eugene where Xu was last seen.

Three helicopters — including an Oregon National Guard helicopter from Salem, Ore. with infrared equipment — have searched from the sky and shuttled crews to and from remote search areas over the past few days. But on Saturday, air crews were grounded by low clouds and fog.

The weather has been survivable for the six days that 63-year-old Xu has been missing, Burger said. He added that there could be a chance that Xu is injured, or took a wrong turn heading back to his car.

Some 65 mountain rescue personnel from Eugene, Portland Corvallis, Lincoln, Linn, and Deschutes counties, as well as Deschutes County sheriff’s officials and Eugene police have been involved in the search.

Some 100 miles of the Willamette National Forest remains closed to hunters, hikers and other users at least through Sunday, Burger said.

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Xu was last seen Sunday by some hikers who said they saw him near the Ollalie Summit. The mathematics and statistics professor's car was discovered at a trailhead also on Tuesday.

The National Weather Service says rain, brisk winds and temperatures near or at freezing, are expected in the area through Monday.

Xu’s daughter, Xin Xu of Portland, says her parents enjoy hiking together on weekends, but that her mother had to work Sunday, so Xu went alone on a longer-than-usual route.

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