Frigid weather gripping much of the United States has led to a frenzied search for a family of six in a mountainous area in Nevada, the Associated Press reported.
James Glanton, 34, and Christina MacIntee, 25, along with Glanton's two children and MacIntee's niece and nephew, have been missing since Sunday when they went out to play in the snow and never returned. The children range from 3 to 10 years old, the Pershing County Sheriff's Office said.
Racing against time and the bitter cold, rescue teams worked into Monday night and hope to resume an aerial search Tuesday in the remote mountains of northwest Nevada.
According to the AP, the temperature was expected to drop below zero again early Tuesday after plunging to minus-16 degrees the day before in Lovelock in the rugged area where the group was believed to be, about 100 miles northeast of Reno.
"It's got to be brutal out there," said Mark Turney, a spokesman for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. "Let's hope they are found quick."
The family has not had any communication with others since they went to the Seven Troughs area on isolated federal land about noon on Sunday in a silver Jeep with a black top, according to Sheila Reitz of the sheriff's office. It was unclear on the type of supplies they might be carrying, authorities said.
"I'm hoping they all huddled together and stayed in the Jeep," said Nevada Highway Patrol Trooper Chuck Allen, who added the area has spotty cellular coverage. "That would be a best-case scenario."
The sheriff's office is being assisted by a Navy search-and-rescue team and the Civil Air Patrol, an all-volunteer auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force, to search a concentrated area where the group is thought to be, the AP reported.
Two planes scoured the area Monday and three could go out Tuesday if the group isn't found, Maj. Thomas Cooper said. Several inches of snow were on the ground in the area, but the black top on the silver 2005 Jeep should help make it easier to spot from the air, authorities said.
The cold "is not a big issue," Cooper said. "We're concerned about stuff coming out of the sky."
The area is on land managed by the BLM.
"It is a beautiful area out there. Parts of it are extremely remote," Turney said.
He said that other than one main road, most of the roads are dirt and more easily traveled by ATVs or other off-road vehicles.
"The roads are basically improved two-tracks out there," Turney said.
"It's remote, and it's rocky," Nevada Department of Wildlife spokesman Chris Healy said. "There are good dirt roads into the place, but they are dirt roads, and it is cold and snow so it's not ideal."
Healy said Seven Troughs is a popular area for hunting chukars, a pheasant-sized winter game bird, the AP reported.
"So it's not the kind of area where there would be nobody around," he said Monday. "But most chukar hunters are smart enough not to go out in the weather we have now."
© 2025 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
