Daily Life 
 
 Dog Team Races To Rescue Lost Hiker In The Himalayas 
 
 itoggle caption Courtesy of SAR Dogs Nepal 
 
 The night before he disappeared, Dennis Lee Thian Poh called his wife in Kuala Lumpur. They chatted about the bitter cold in Nepal's Annapurna range and he said that dinner in his small lodge had consisted, yet again, of vegetable fried rice. 
 
 Lee, 47, had been hiking for six days in Nepal's most visited trekking zone, the Annapurna Conservation Area. 
 
 The next morning, Lee told the eight other trekkers in his group that he was going to walk ahead of them, catch up with their porters and then meet up at lunchtime. As of April 15, Lee has been missing for 11 days. 
 
 i itoggle caption Donatella Lorch for NPR Donatella Lorch for NPR 
 
 "He has always wanted, for the longest time, to go to Nepal," says his wife, Jennifer Peters-Lee, who flew to Nepal to follow the search at a town in the Annapurna area. 
 
 Dennis had had second thoughts about the trek, Jennifer says. He was uncertain about leaving her to juggle her job and his two teenage daughters from his earlier marriage, one of whom has autism. But Jennifer, who's not a hiker, had assured him she and the girls would be fine. 
 
 The area where Dennis disappeared is mostly above 11,800 feet elevation. It's between the tiny hamlets of Khopra Danda and Bayali in the center of the Annapurna Circuit, with an achingly beautiful panorama of mountains, rising nearly 26,000 feet above sea level. 
 
 i itoggle caption Courtesy of SAR Dogs Nepal Courtesy of SAR Dogs Nepal 
 
 The region is also one of Nepal's most dangerous for trekkers. The mountains collect moisture from the area, resulting in frequent rain, hail and snow. Once a trekker heads higher into the mountains, like Dennis' group did, wide walking paths and stone steps are replaced by narrow, slippery and unstable paths, often on the edge of vertical precipices. 
 
 Last season, a sign was posted on the track to Bayali warning trekkers not to walk it solo. It's unclear whether the group guide warned Dennis, and no one knows whether he saw the sign. 
 
 "People always underestimate the mountains," says Jit Bahadur Masrangi Magar, director of operations at SAR Dogs Nepal, the group that's spearheading the search for Dennis with four of its dogs. "The mountains are not your friends. So many people believe they can do it alone." 
 
 Eight of the world's 10 highest mountains are in Nepal, and tourism — especially mountain adventure and trekking — is a backbone of the country's economy. 
 
 About 800,000 visitors come each year from all over the world and in increasing numbers from China, Southeast Asia and Israel. The Annapurna Circuit, a favorite trekking destination, was once just traversable on foot. Now it's crisscrossed with rough and, at times, terrifying dirt roads, passable only in four-wheel drive vehicles. Adventurous tourists increasingly aim for areas that are more isolated and more pristine, such as the path to Bayali. 
 
 But when trekkers go missing, the odds of finding them are low. And you don't have to be hiking on Everest to get lost. 
 
 "It is surprisingly easy to disappear in the mountains here, especially if you are trekking alone," says a diplomat in Kathmandu. 
 
 i itoggle caption Courtesy of SAR Dogs Nepal Courtesy of SAR Dogs Nepal 
 
 The U.S. State Department warns visitors not to trek alone and urges everyone to register with the embassy in Kathmandu, where the consular section has pictures of missing American trekkers posted on the walls of its visitor area. Some trekkers' remains are not found for years. 
 
 SAR Dogs Nepal, the country's main dog search and rescue organization, functions entirely on donations. In 2014, the agency rescued five foreigners and about 200 Nepalis. 
 
 And it's not just the rugged terrain and weather that hinder rescue operations. Linguistic and cultural barriers, weak government infrastructure and disorganized communication channels slow down searches. 
 
 Dennis' trekking guide immediately started searching for him when he disappeared. But the company waited 48 hours to alert local authorities, the dog teams and Dennis' family. Dennis managed to place a call that never went through. Rescuers traced the call's location. But they made a mistake, at first, which further delayed the identification of the general area where he disappeared. 
 
 i itoggle caption Courtesy of SARS Dogs Nepal Courtesy of SARS Dogs Nepal 
 
 The head of the SAR Dogs Nepal team searching for Dennis is a 29-year-old fine arts major from the village of Lamjung in the nearby hills. Karna Dura grew up around dogs and the search and rescue world. He knows intimately the odds and complexities of survival. 
 
 In 2013, Dura and SAR Dogs Nepal found the body of a German trekker missing for 22 days after they believe he fell down a gorge as he left the trail to get a better angle to take pictures. He had managed to survive until a few days before SAR Dogs Nepal found him. The trekker had filmed his last few days and a message to his family on his camera. 
 
 In 1991, an Australian man disappeared in northern Nepal, surviving 43 days before being rescued. Unlike Dennis, both these men were trekking solo without a group and not on a set route. 
 
 If a trekker is fully fit and does not have a head injury, trackers with SAR Dogs believe it's possible to survive three to four weeks in the mountains. Dennis, an avid and fit hiker, has a black belt in taekwondo. In his day-pack, he had a warm winter jacket, about 2 pints of water, a knife, a compass and some muesli. Now the weather is Dura's biggest enemy. 
 
 Working with a 10-man team, three air-scenting dogs and one dog that tracks a person, Dura and his team have identified four spots where Dennis was. One spot is a boulder, marking Dennis' last location on the main trail halfway to Bayali. The team is using Dennis' boots, sleeping bag and clothes that the porters were carrying to give the dogs his scent. 
 
 But large boulders below this site, combined with heavy fog and rain, make it impossible for the team to see down the ravine. Though they have been joined by 60 local villagers and six policemen, poor visibility has blocked helicopter assistance. Rappelling is the only way down the gorge, and the army is coming Thursday with professional rappellers. 
 
 Snow and hail for the past few days have kept nighttime temperatures below freezing. The trail is a slippery mud morass. 
 
 "This is very stressful," Dura says in a phone call from Bayali, which at over 13,000 feet elevation is cloaked in snow. "I pray he is all right." 
 
 Dennis' wife, Jennifer, struggles to hold onto hope. But she also feels her world is crumbling. She has made fliers with Dennis' picture, with the offer of a reward, to be distributed to local Nepali villagers. "I am so desperate," she says. "I have written a letter to the prime minister of Malaysia asking him for help." 
 
 Donatella Lorch is a freelance journalist who's based in (and who blogs about) Katmandu, Nepal. ||||| Family hopes for trekker’s return in time for wedding anniversary 
 
 The family hopes Lee and Jennifer will be able to celebrate their second wedding anniversary on Saturday. — Photo courtesy of Lee’s family PETALING JAYA, April 16 — The family of Dennis Lee Thian Poh, who went missing during a trek in Ampurna, Nepal, on April 5, hopes he will return in time for his second wedding anniversary on Saturday. 
 
 An email from a family friend said the family was anxious about finding Lee, a 47-year-old businessman from Kuala Lumpur, as weather conditions in the Himalayas worsen. 
 
 ‘’Dennis and his wife Jennifer (Eileen Peters) will celebrate their second wedding anniversary on Saturday. The family hopes they will be able to celebrate this special day together,” said the woman, who declined to be named. 
 
 Search efforts in Nepal have intensified with rescue teams combing the areas between Khopra and Bayeli as well as Dobasto and Tadatani. 
 
 SAR Dogs Nepal, an independent Nepali search-and-rescue team, posted photographs of poor weather conditions from their base camp in Bayeli. 
 
 “The weather is still bad. Thick fog forces our teams to work carefully,’’ said the team via its Twitter account on Tuesday. 
 
 Lee’s family has also urged experienced volunteers to help with on-ground search efforts. 
 
 “We have engaged SAR Dogs Nepal who are doing a fantastic job alongside many villagers and Sherpas. But this is not enough,” said the family in a statement on Sunday. 
 
 ‘’We need more people on the ground to help us cover such a vast area. If you can give us any clues to his whereabouts and help him return to his children, his wife, his family and his friends, you would have created a miracle.” 
 
 Lee, an avid trekker, arrived in Kathmandu on March 28 for a hiking trip with eight friends and was scheduled to return last Friday. 
 
 He was last seen between Ghorepani and Ghundrung on the afternoon of April 5, as the group made their descent from Khopra Danda, heading to Bayeli. 
 
 Initial reports said Lee was walking alone, ahead of his group. Rescuers later clarified that although Lee was ahead, he was trailing behind the group’s porters. 
 
 Once at their campsite in Bayeli, the other hikers realised Lee had not reached the campsite and the porters had not seen him. 
 
 A search party was set up on April 7, and his wife flew to Nepal the next day to help coordinate the rescue team comprising professional rescuers, local police and villagers. 
 
 Those who are able to help in Nepal may contact rescuers at +977 9856025679 or email any information to finddennis@yahoo.com. 
 
 Lee’s friends have also set up a Facebook page called Find Dennis for the public to share information or express their support.
– Hope is fading by the hour at this point, but rescue teams in Nepal say a hiker who has been missing 12 days could well be alive—assuming he merely got lost and not seriously injured in a fall. Rescuers with four trained dogs are combing the area of the Himalayas where 47-year-old Dennis Lee Thian Poh of Kuala Lumpur was last seen on April 5. The goal is to reunite him with his wife before their second wedding anniversary on Saturday, reports the Malay Mail Online. Family and friends have set up a Find Dennis page on Facebook. In a more in-depth look at the search for Lee, NPR reports that his crucial mistake was walking ahead of his hiking group, alone, on treacherous terrain. He either didn't see or ignored signs warning precisely against it, and it's not clear whether his guide informed him. "People always underestimate the mountains," says an official with the rescue outfit SAR Dogs Nepal, which is leading the search. "The mountains are not your friends. So many people believe they can do it alone." One sliver of hope: Other hikers have survived longer stretches before being found, and Lee, an amateur hiker, at least had a warm jacket, a compass, and some muesli.