Changing Nature   September 2009  They were too late; he could
feel it. Three hours into the frantic search for his missing
friend, 30-year-old Chris Klingelheber and a specialist from the
Alpine Rescue Team were huffing up a mountain some 3,000 feet
above the flickering lights in the town of Empire. As their
headlamp beams darted about in the winter storm on that March
night in 2006, Klingelheber's stomach grew queasier with every
passing moment, as he became more and more convinced of what
they would find.  Klingelheber shouldn't have been there.
Although he had survival training, he wasn't an EMT or rescue
specialist, meaning he was a legal liability for Alpine. But
down in the parking lot near the trailhead, he'd successfully
lobbied the apprehensive authorities. He's obviously up there,
Klingelheber argued, pointing to the abandoned car of his
friend, J.T. I know the trail, I know how he thinks, and I know
what I'm doing. As the snow blew in and the hour grew late,
there was talk, undeniably sensible, of