Several searchers were stranded on the road after an eight-inch snowfall that also prevented other rescuers from reaching a campsite they were to work from at an elevation of 8,500 feet in the Frye Lake area on Wednesday.
A scuba diving crew with an underwater camera that had planned to search the lake went back to its base in Sublette County and will not return until the weather clears, said Fremont County Sheriff Larry Mathews.
Dog teams leading FBI investigators trained in forensic science and evidence gathering searched a few areas, but planned to leave the mountains today, Mathews said.
The stepped-up search is supposed to double as an exercise for Wyoming Search and Rescue Association trainees, who are to learn skills such as clue handling and the use of backcountry equipment.
The training exercises are still scheduled for the weekend, and Mathews said rescuers may then be able to search areas that have been inaccessible because of the storm.
An intensive 12-day search launched after Bechtel was reported missing last July 24 produced few clues, officials said. Her family has offered a $100,000 reward for information that helps authorities find her.