Nine months after Jordan Naterer went missing in Manning Park, his tent and backpack have been found near a mountain peak.

The discovery was made Sunday, July 4, by one of the volunteer searchers working with the Naterer family, according to RCMP Sgt. Rob Hughes.

It is the first solid clue to Naterer鈥檚 movements since his car was discovered in the parking lot of Lightning Lake on Oct. 13, 2020.

The find triggered an immediate response by Princeton RCMP and Ground Search and Rescue (GSAR), with helicopter support. On Monday, they conducted a grid search of the terrain surrounding the belongings. They were unable to find another trace of the 25-year-old electrical engineer.

A new search began Tuesday morning, with one helicopter, multiple ground teams and three dogs.

Police are not releasing the location of the search area, except to say it is off-trail, citing safety concerns and the need to protect the integrity of the operation. They are asking friends and well-wishers to keep clear of the park for the time being.

鈥淭he items are near the bottom of a drainage (area) limiting hiking access,鈥� said Hughes.

Naterer was last seen October 10, 2020, when he told friends he was going for a solo, overnight hike in Manning.

The area where the tent and backpack were found is one that was searched by air in the days following his disappearance. Those efforts involved more than 150 GSAR volunteers, and RCMP employing helicopters with infrared technology, but were hampered by snow and freezing temperatures.  

When official efforts to locate Jordan were suspended, his parents Josie and Greg Naterer, along with friends, organized a private campaign.

They raised funds, recruited professional trackers and other experts, and hired helicopters and drones, all without success.

Individuals hunted the backcountry throughout the winter. In April the volunteer search was scaled up again, led here by Greg, and coordinated by Josie, staying in the couple鈥檚 home in St. John鈥檚.

At that time, in an interview with the Spotlight, Josie said: 鈥淭his is our child, and we don鈥檛 give up on our children.鈥�

In June, a canine team from Please Bring Me Home, an Alberta-based, non-profit agency dedicated to finding missing people, combed areas of the park with human remains detection dogs and found nothing.

Josie is returning to B.C. and Manning Park on Tuesday to be with her husband.

A resident of Vancouver, Jordan is an undergraduate electrical engineer from Memorial University, and had just just completed his Masters at the University of B.C. when he disappeared. He is a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada scholar.

Do you have something to add to this story, or something else we should report on? Email:andrea.demeer@similkameenspotlight.com