Body of Bob Arum's Son, John, Found in Washington Mountains

An aerial helicopter search late Friday afternoon discovered the body of experienced mountain climber John Arum, the 49-year-old son of boxing promoter Bob Arum, a national park spokesperson told FanHouse.

John Arum's body was found after a five-day search on the 8,500-foot summit of Storm King Mountain in Washington state in the Northern Cascades at a level of 7,700 feet, according to Kerry Olson, of North Cascades National Park.

John Arum was reported missing Sunday following a solo weekend hiking and camping trip. The absence of John Arum, whose backpack was found on Wednesday at the 7,400-foot level of the Storm King Mountain, forced his 78-year-old father to leave a Los Angeles press conference on Tuesday that was the start of a three-city press tour promoting the Manny Pacquiao-Antonio Margarito fight on Nov. 13 at Cowboys Stadium.

Fifty personnel from the National Park Service, Chelan Mountain Rescue, Stehekin Community and the King County Sheriff's Office conducted ground and aerial searches over steep and difficult terrain covering a 1,500-acre search area.

"We found John Arum's body this afternoon at around 4:30 Pacific Time as the result of an aerial search, which was by helicopter by a national park service ranger," said Olson. "The body was found at 7,700 feet, on the North face of Storm King."

On Thursday, John Arum's waist daypack was discovered. Olson said that it will take more time to retrieve Arum's body, but that rangers believe that it was likely that he died from the fall.

"John Arum was found 300 feet directly below his waist pack that was found yesterday. He is in an area that is very, very steep, and on unstable terrain," said Olson.

"Although there are several flights over this area, today was a very warm day, and there was a snow melt, which revealed his body, and that's why we couldn't find him previously," Olson said. "John Arum went to a place that there was still enough snow glaciering, and there was a snow melt today that allowed us to see into that gully area and discover his body."

John Arum's body is not immediately accessible, said Olson, adding that the environmental lawyer in Seattle was "scheduled to climb Storm King on Saturday, Aug. 28," and that his fall likely took place that day.

"We don't know exactly how far he fell, because we don't know exactly where on the mountain he was when he fell," said Olson. "It was certainly more than 300 feet, because there was a cliff above his day pack, and another below his pack, so his pack must have fallen off as he fell."

The rangers returned and informed the Arum family soon after the discovery, Olson said.

"We have not been able to recover his body yet because it is in an area that is so difficult to reach that we couldn't go in there," said Olson.

"There is no way to repel down to it, and there is no way to climb up to it at least by our rangers. The helicopters could not get close enough into the mountains," said Olson. "We are still working on a way to find a plan to recover his body and we are reaching out to other organizations to help us with that."

An avid expert hiker and climber, John Arum was expected to arrive home Sunday after hiking the Storm King Peak. Arum had been on a quest to climb the 100 highest summits in Washington state and had 18 more summits to complete.