Well-known sportsman missing in Las Cañadas

[Janet]

The Guardia Civil has said that its mountain unit is searching in Las Cañadas for a sportsman who disappeared on New Year's Day. The search team has been joined by AEA, Bomberos del Consorcio de Tenerife, as well as mountaineering groups and friends of the missing man. He has been identified as 39-year-old Víctor Teni, a well-known triathlete, mountaineer and trail runner (photo above from Victor's own FB page). His last contact with family and friends is said to have been at 11am on 1 January. His vehicle was found parked near the mountaineers' Refugio Edmundo Herrero in the Llano de Ucanca area. JA

[Janet]

Here is the poster that has been issued about the disappearance of triathlete Victor Teni. It has a phone number to call if anyone has any information. The search continues in the Teide national park, but clearly the more widely the appeal is spread the better the chances of finding Victor safe and sound.

[Janet]

The Guardia Civil and other rescue teams have resumed the search for Victor this morning, starting at 8am back in the national park, and aided by around 100 volunteers, comprising friends and family, and fellow sportsmen. Victor was reported missing on the 3rd, after intending to spend New Year's Eve in the mountaineers' refuge as part of a training exercise on New Year's Day. Rescuers are not sure, however, whether he was intending to scale Teide or Guajara mountain, so the search is being divided between those two areas, spreading out from the refuge where his car was found.

[Janet]

Yesterday's search saw the official teams being joined by some 250 fellow athletes and friends rather than the 100 originally estimated, but still it was without result. The search has resumed this morning, the third day of looking for Victor. JA

[Janet]

The Guardia Civil says that it has brought a rescue dog  in today to help in the search, and that they have been actively looking in an area where there had been a rockfall. As of yet there is still no news.

[Guanche]

I would have thought they had done that on day one?

[Janet]

no, just today ... the family is critical that the army hasn't been called in ... I mean they know where he was, roughly, they know he's not stupid in this sort of terrain ...

[Myrtle Hogan-Lance]

Just terrible.  I've been waiting for news since Janet first posted this.  Horrible to have one of ours lost out there.

[Janet]

Victor's family and friends are putting the authorities under considerable pressure to bring in the army to help the search, which now enters its fifth day. As of 8am, the full range of rescue teams, volunteers, dogs, and now a search and rescue helicopter was back on Teide looking for any sign of him. Conditions up there have worsened over the last 24 hours, and the wind is picking up. The Teleférico has said it's closed until at least 2pm because of the winds, and the forecast is for heavy snow above 1,800m over the next 36 hours. As positive as one tries to be, it's hard to avoid the conclusion that time is of the essence, and that this might in any case already be a recovery, rather than a rescue, operation. JA

[Janet]

The Guardia Civil has announced that the search for Victor has been suspended today due to adverse weather conditions in the crater and peaks of Teide. The following photo shows the situation near the observatory around 10am this morning, with temperatures down to around -5ºC. JA