It was one year ago – July 7, 2021 – when the desperate nine-month search for young Jordan Naterer ended in Manning Park.
Marking the anniversary of a heartbreaking outcome, Jordan’s father Greg Naterer said: “We miss Jordan tremendously and wish we could hold him again to tell him how much he is loved and missed.”
Princeton RCMP Sgt. Rob Hughes said Jordan’s story, the search and the investigation, will always stay with him.
“It was intense and it was emotional.”
Unabashedly, he admitted being moved to tears several times while meeting with Jordan’s parents.
Jordan, who lived in Vancouver, was 25 when he set out on the Thanksgiving weekend in 2020 for a solitary hike and overnight camping trip at Manning Park.
He was reported missing three days later, after he failed to show up for a holiday dinner with friends.
Vancouver Police Department, Princeton RCMP and Princeton Ground Search and Rescue lead the search for the man. When that was called off due to weather and a lack of results, his family took over.
Greg and his wife Josie, who travelled from their family’s home in Newfoundland, organized an exhaustive effort to find Jordan.
They started a Go Fund Me campaign that raised more than $140,000. They used personal resources as well, employing helicopters, avalanche technicians, trackers, a first-aider, a former military officer and private search and rescue specialists.
They flew drones above the areas Jordan might have gone towards, and volunteers reviewed thousands of hours of video.
“He is our child and we do not give up on our children,” Josie told the Spotlight.
On Sunday, July 4, 2021, a searcher located Jordan’s tent and backpack, near the summit of Frosty Mountain. This renewed official search efforts, and his personal property and remains were discovered July 7, near a creek bed, about three kilometres away from the campsite.
It was Josie who wrote Jordan’s first obituary on that day, to a Facebook group of the family’s supporters and friends.
“Jordan’s final path was eventually determined,” it read. “After accidentally losing the hiking trail in unexpected snow conditions at Frosty Mountain…Jordan Naterer fought a courageous battle to escape out of treacherous terrain. His remarkable distance travelled through drainages under the worst imaginable blizzard conditions was a testament to his super-human effort to survive.”
Jordan was undergraduate electrical engineer from Memorial University, and had just just completed his Masters at the University of B.C.
He was a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada scholar who loved music, poetry and cooking.
He is also survived by two sisters, Julia and Veronica.
“Jordan has an active presence in our lives every day,” said Greg.
“We will always remain a family of five, including Jordan.”
Related: Father of deceased hiker Jordan Naterer asks for better ‘safety culture’ in Manning Park
Related: ‘I am not leaving without my son,’ says mother of missing Manning Park hiker
Do you have something to add to this story, or something else we should report on? Email:andrea.demeer@similkameenspotlight.com
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