More than two weeks after a Texas man was last seen headed onto a trail in Girdwood, Alaska State Troopers say intermittent efforts to find him are still continuing.
Troopers spokesman Tim DeSpain said Wednesday that nobody has found 46-year-old Bradford Broach in the vicinity of the Winner Creek Trail, near the Alyeska Resort. A grid search effort had been planned last weekend for Broach, who had been expected to fly home to Allen, Texas, from Fairbanks on July 28 but instead stayed at Alyeska; he signed a log at the trailhead on the night of Aug. 2.
"Over the weekend there was some active searching going on," DeSpain said. "This week it went back to a limited search."
At one point shortly after Broach's disappearance, more than 100 people from an array of Southcentral Alaska search-and-rescue agencies were looking for him. Since then, however, the search has continued with fewer personnel.
"It's not like that now," DeSpain said. "It's not been suspended but it is limited searching."
Many of the assets being used now are committed on an incidental or voluntary basis, such as flight time from trooper helicopters in the area on other business to fly a search pattern. DeSpain said someone with an aluminum skiff traveled several times up and down Glacier Creek, which can be crossed using a "hand tram" on the trail above it, looking for a body in the water.
DeSpain said last week that no confirmed sign of Broach had yet been found; on Wednesday, he said that remained the case.
Correction: An initial version of this story misstated by a week the dates on which Broach was scheduled to leave Fairbanks and signed the Winner Creek Trail log in Girdwood; they were July 28 and Aug. 2, not Aug. 4 and Aug. 9.