Body of missing Whitefish climber recovered from Glacier

The body of missing mountaineer Grant Marcuccio, a 32-year-old man from Whitefish, was recovered Sunday from alpine terrain in Glacier National Park.  

Glacier Park officials said in a media release on Monday that Marcuccio’s body was found by Two Bear Air at approximately 2 p.m. His cause of death is still under investigation, but traumatic injuries and location of the body are indicative of a fall, the release stated.  

Two Bear Air spotted Marcuccio from the air. He was found one-third of a mile east of 8,413-foot McPartland Peak below the ridgeline between Heavens Peak and McPartland Peak. The area is west of Going-to-the-Sun Road on the parks’ west side. 

The body was transported to the Apgar horse corrals where Two Bear Air met the Flathead County coroner.      

Marcuccio was last seen by his hiking party on Sunday, Aug. 18 at about 1 p.m. Marcuccio separated from his party to summit McPartland Peak alone and planned to rendezvous at a designated location. Rangers were alerted by the hiking party on Sunday evening that Marcuccio never made it to the rendezvous spot.    

Two Bear Air and ground teams began searching on Monday, Aug. 19. Forest Service also flew over the area and dropped off ground searchers.   

The climbing difficulty on McPartland Peak’s standard route is rated as class 3 with a pitch of class 4, according to the guidebook “A Climber’s Guide to Glacier National Park.” The route involves about 5,200 vertical feet of climbing with some “deceptively difficult” cliff bands, according to the route description.