CLIMBING FOR BEARE
Steven Beare is a 32 year old born and raised in the small town of Catskill, New York. He and his wife began dating while she was a Junior in High School. In 2009 they moved to Colorado together and got married. Steven and Olivia are avid world travelers. Their goal being to travel to someplace new every time they take a vacation. The had a 3 week honeymoon in New Zealand, backpacking the North and South Islands. They have also traveled the country of Peru including hiking Macchu Picchu. Their very first international vacation was to Costa Rica. They have also been to Australia, four different major cities in Mexico, the Dominican Republic, and all over the continental United States. Steven and Olivia have an almost 2 year old son Brian, 3 crazy puppy dogs: Tavia, Jax, & Bella, and Olivia is currently pregnant and due with their second baby January 2018.
Junior Prom May 2004
While living in Colorado Steven and Olivia developed a deeper passion for the outdoors and the mountains. Steven began climbing 14ners in 2012. He stated as they were deciding which mountain to do first, "Well we have to start with the highest one," Mount Elbert at 14,433. Steven summited with no issues, while Olivia had her first and hopefully last horrible experience with Altitude Sickness. Since then Steven has climbed 24/53 of the 14,000+ peaks in Colorado. In February 2015 he climbed with a tour group Mount Kilimanjaro, his first of the 7 world summits. In March of 2017 he completed a climb of Mount Orizaba in Mexico, one of the world's volcanic summits with himself and one other porter. He fell in love all over again with climbing and it became his passion from the moment he reached the summit of Kilimanjaro in Africa. He dreamed, searched, and talked constantly about the mountains, the volcanoes, the gear, and everything that went into climbing mountains.
Wedding September 2011
On June 14th at approximately 2:00 am Steven set out on his ascent of the mountain taking the South Route up to the western, higher of the two peaks first on Mount Elbrus in Russia, his second of the 7 world summits, and second of the world's volcanic summits. He was seen around 7:30 am that morning by other hikers coming down from the summit, and again at about 10:00 am from a distance just beyond the saddle of the two peaks making his way towards the summit. At approximately 10:30 am visibility at the top of the mountain was non-existent and a blizzard had descended upon the mountain. Steven was not seen or heard from since. Authorities were notified on June 17th that the solo American climber had not checked back in with his registered hiking company by the evening of the 16th as was previously arranged between Steven and the mountain guides. On June 18th the Search for Steven began with Russian search and rescue (SAR) teams on foot. They continued through the day and part of the day on Monday the 19th, however another storm began that afternoon and the search was postponed until Thursday that week.
Brian October 2015
While back in America, Steven's wife Olivia began worrying on the 17th however did not try reaching out to anyone until the 18th, trying to give the benefit of the doubt and not rushing into full blown freak-out mode. The morning of the 19th Olivia was finally able to connect with the US Embassy in Moscow who then completed a conference call with SAR in Terskol to confirm Steven Beare was missing on the mountain. Beside herself with grief for a couple hours she was immobilized, then her strength kicked in and she got on the phone trying to find anyone and everyone that was willing to help her find her husband. The fact that Steven was lost in Russia posed some huge uphill battles that would not have been issues had he gone missing on one of the peaks in Colorado. Communication in a foreign language, and translation was the first issue. Detailing all the gear that Steven had on vs. what gear Steven had left behind in two locations the two nights he spent on the mountain, some in the hotel room, some in one of the barrel huts was also difficult for her. Then profiling Steven and trying to figure out possible scenarios of what he would have done in the situation he was presented with, continue to the summit because he was less than an hour away, turn back and climb down the mountain, build a snow fort and hunker down; it was incredibly difficult to imagine exactly what he would have done. And thus, the entire mountain including both peaks became the search area for the Search For Steven.
Olivia also reached out to a man she met years ago at a bar one night through a mutual friend. She knew he was a professional mountaineer that had climbed all over the world including the most dangerous peaks K2, Anapurna, and Everest, and that he had spent time in Nepal rescuing people following the Earthquakes that occured there. She called Don Bowie who was in France at the time training under sponsorship to complete a coast to summit ascent of Mont Blanc for the World Record. Olivia was hoping for a contact in Russia, or even just someone that could help her translate with the current SAR teams there, and what she got was a man who dropped his personal and professional life, to fly to Russia two days later to personally search for her husband Steven Beare. Don had contacts with other professional rescuers in addition to a vital helicopter company HeliAction that provided costly but invaluable search and rescue efforts. After a week on the mountain in continued harsh weather conditions, Phase one of the Search and Rescue was discontinued. Don is extremely professional and voiced his concerns of the chances of survival of Steven on the mountain more than a day or two due to dehydration and hypothermia in the extremely harsh negative degree temperatures he was faced with during the first snowstorm. Phase two Search and Recovery began and the goal is now to find Steven no matter what and bring him home. Fundraising continues and the search is currently ongoing.
Cavalry Ball 2011
Littleton Police Officer 2016
Mount Kilimanjaro 2015
Mount Orizaba 2017