A dangerous search and rescue effort is underway in Strathcona Park, as teams rappel down cliffs and scour mountainsides for a missing hiker.

Searchers set out by helicopter by the dozens on Wednesday from Mount Washington, as they entered the third day of the search for missing hiker Keshav Jindal.

The 25-year-old Courtenay man vanished in Strathcona Park on Monday afternoon.

According to search manager Paul Berry, from Comox Valley Search & Rescue it happened about four hours into Jindal’s hike that began atop Mount Washington.

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He and a friend made a fateful decision to separate near Circlet Lake after the gruelling conditions became too much for the young man, who had only hiked three to four times before.

“He and his partner ascended out of Circlet Lake into the ridgetop into the alpine, and KJ made a decision not to summit Albert Edward and he would wait for his partner to come back down and then they would descend together,” Berry told CHEK News on Wednesday.

“We know about 3:15 on Monday he sent a message to another friend quick video with a lake below saying ‘hey I’m going to start my way down to the lake.’ We’re not sure if it was Moat Lake he was looking at, or Circlet Lake but we don’t believe he took a trail. Every trail has been scoured by air, by ground, by search dogs, with no success.”

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Missing man Keshav Jindal is shown. (Comox Valley Search and Rescue/Facebook)

Seven search and rescue teams from across Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland, hit the ground and poured their resources into the search on Wednesday, rappelling down rock faces and tackling difficult terrain.

Hiker Warren Bell told CHEK News it is easy to get lost in the area that Jindal was last seen in.

“It’s terrifying. I’ve been lost up there. Yeah my phone died up there. Not fun,” said Bell.

According to Berry, Jindal has youth in his favour and is physically fit, but didn’t pack enough to sustain him this long.

“We believe he took a short cut down to the lake below and if he’s done that, he’s in very steep and dangerous terrain,” said Berry.

Berry said the search will continue into Thursday, though it can’t expand, since all available helicopters are now fighting B.C.’s wildfires. So searchers will rely on the aircraft and crews they have already, as they prepare to enter day four of their effort to find the missing hiker.