Harvard Mountaineers Join Search For Missing Syracuse U. Climbers

Four Harvard students left Tuesday night to join an extensive search for four Syracuse University students lost since last Friday in the treacherous Mt. Washington section of the Presidential Mountain Range in New Hampshire.

The students, Peter T. Carman '66, Fritz Ermarth 3GSAS, Matthew W. Hall '66, and Larry W. Muir '65, all members of the Harvard Mountaineering Club, left in a party organized and led by Ritner E. Walling, an M.I.T. graduate who has had considerable climbing experience in the area.

Michael R. McGrath '67, a member of the Mountaineering Club, said last night that the expedition will conduct the search in the Crawford Path area of the range. They intend to search on a day-to-day basis and will use their automobile as a base.

The Mountaineering Club returned last week from an expedition which traversed a route similar to the one taken by the Syracuse party. The Club, aided by excellent weather conditions, covered the ground in only three day's Only one other group before them was able to do it in this time. Presently, however, high winds, a vicious blizzard, zero visibility, and an extremely heavy ice pack which blankets the upper half of the White Mountains are hampering the search effort, which involves an estimated 50 searchers.

Last night, after another fruitless day of searching, hopes for the safety of the lost climbers were rapidly dwindling.