Days into the search for a missing Air Force Academy cadet candidate, Rocky Mountain National Park’s search and rescue team got a lead: A group of park visitors saw Micah Tice on Saturday morning in the Battle Mountain area near Longs Peak.

The group hiked with Tice for about 20 minutes, a national park news release says. They said they last saw him between 7:30 and 8 a.m., “as visibility and weather conditions continued to deteriorate.”

Tice, 20, of Las Vegas told the hikers he had started at the Longs Peak trailhead at 6:30 a.m. He was wearing a black sweatshirt, black sweatpants, a black hat, black lightweight gloves, tennis shoes and a light blue backpack.

Search teams focused their efforts below 12,000 feet and no aircraft were used on Thursday “due to extremely high winds,” the release says. “Searchers faced chest deep snow, high avalanche danger, strong wind gusts, and bitter wind chill.”

Tice is a student at the academy’s preparatory school.

His vehicle was found Monday afternoon at the Longs Peak trailhead. His planned destination and route were unknown.

Tice is about 5 feet, 11 inches tall, weighs about 160 pounds, and has dark hair and brown eyes.

Anyone who has been in the Longs Peak area since Saturday or has information about Tice’s planned route is asked to call Rocky Mountain National Park at 970-586-1204.