Safety Missing skier off Flower Point

[Sibhusky]

Apparently a guy skied off Flower Point here in Whitefish and is MIA. We have open boundaries, so this is perfectly permissable, but no less fraught with danger, especially given the snow storm that has been going on here. I hope the dogs can find him, because 12" fell since yesterday, and there is little likelihood that he was, like the last one in Whiteface, actually headed to California.

http://flatheadbeacon.com/2018/02/18/skier-lost-near-big-mountain/

http://nbcmontana.com/news/local/skier-lost-near-whitefish-mountain-resort

There was already a tree well death earlier in the season and given the blowing snow, I don't know how they could find him unless the dogs do.

 

[epicentre]

Helicopters have been flying all day. I can hear them, they haven't stopped. I know Two Bear Air has sophisticated thermal sensors and other equipment, and I know they have performed other winter search and rescues but I don't know how sensitive or effective they are in a situation like this.

On top of this the weather is very bad right now. Big storm, fridged temps, and high winds. I don't think they even opened up the top of the mountain today.

Everybody is worried. Prayers today.

 

[Sibhusky]

http://www.kpax.com/story/37535489/...efisharching-for-missing-skier-near-whitefish

Sounds like they were really at it Saturday night! In the weather we had late Saturday it must have been terrible.

I'm wondering when this excursion started if they were already reporting him missing at 2:30 in the afternoon. Maybe the day before? I could see if they were reporting from at the mountain because he didn't show up at the bottom of the lift, but "didn't come home" sounds like he was expected much earlier, which to me would put the expected return pretty early in the day. Starting to worry it's someone I know, although my first checked-on person apparently was snow shoeing yesterday.

 

[Sibhusky]

They are still looking.

http://www.dailyinterlake.com/local...es_for_missing_skier_in_whitefish_backcountry

 

[Sibhusky]

The missing skier has been identified.

http://missoulian.com/news/local/lo...cle_6eb45df8-4b4b-5ba0-aa90-d8fdb00e9651.html

I notice they've changed the time he was reported missing to a time that makes more sense, 7:15 PM.

I was treated by this doctor in the emergency room once. He made up a special "migraine cocktail" that was one of the best fixes I have gotten. I even wrote it down.

 

[Snowfan]

I hope they find him soon.

 

[Fuller]

Choppers were still hovering in the valley behind Flower Point today. They may not find this guy until spring.

 

[Sibhusky]

The problem is, he said he was going that way, but what if he went another way first? Did someone watch him go that way?

 

[Snowfan]

Hopefully he can start a fire....always bring a lighter....and a whistle.

 

[Sibhusky]

Hopefully he can start a fire....always bring a lighter....and a whistle.

If he were going to start a fire he'd have done it two days ago.

 

[crgildart]

If he were going to start a fire he'd have done it two days ago.

And the searchers would have found that fire.. This won't end well at this point. That Toronto firefighter from Whiteface already used up all the unbelievable lost skier survival points for the season.

Shouldn't he have known better than to go OB by himself with a storm moving in? I know someone else who goes full blown mountaineering by himself in sketchy weather fairly often. He's gotten sort of lost once too.. Why do grown ups do these things??

 

[Sibhusky]

People get cocky.

A friend ended up in a tree well back there, but had a spot tracker on, his wife at home saw it wasn't moving. He was with friends and actually mostly okay, but with two broken legs and unable to extricate or make himself heard. So he got found. Unsure how much was the wife and how much was Two Bear, but basically he had the Spot, his friends, and the IR thing all on his side.

 

[dusty]

Vibes to the family. I assume this was Canyon Creek area. That's pretty well traveled sled neck area too so assuming the worse based on terrain..let alone time.

 

[DanoT]

We also have a missing person right now at Sun Peaks. He left a house party on foot at 2am on Saturday but never made it home or to work that Saturday morning. I think he lived on the same street as the house party.

An RCMP helicopter was flying around yesterday but with the extreme cold temps it is unlikely that he is alive. It is a limited search area because how far could he travel on foot? It snowed all day Saturday with less than a foot of new snow, but they still can't find him.

 

[Sibhusky]

When I got in the corral for Chair 1 this AM, there were five or six guys in NP uniforms on snowmobiles heading up. Given that temps have been ranging from 21°F down to -14°F since he went missing, it can only be a recovery operation. (Not even counting the wind chills which have ranged as low as -37°.)

According to this article he was wearing a transceiver. https://www.usnews.com/news/best-st...continues-for-skier-missing-near-big-mountain

 

[Sibhusky]

They are still searching today. This link includes video of the searchers as seen from the helicopter.

http://www.khq.com/story/37571464/watch-search-continues-for-skier-missing-near-big-mountain

 

[Sibhusky]

Still at it. It's incredible the energy that is going into this.

http://flatheadbeacon.com/2018/02/27/searching-for-jon/

 

[crgildart]

What a bummer. Looking like either he forgot to turn on the transceiver or his batteries died. I'd bet on the latter unless he had some other medical event that prevented him from being able to turn it on as soon as he realized he might be in trouble..

 

[tball]

Another good example why having a Recco reflector is a great idea. Even if it doesn't help you, it could prevent a lot of search and rescue effort and risk, and the agony of waiting for your family.

Whitefish is Recco equipped so they must have conducted a search with it:
http://www.recco.com/resorts-operations/north-american-resorts

 

[crgildart]

Another good example why having a Recco reflector is a great idea. Even if it doesn't help you, it could prevent a lot of search and rescue effort and risk, and the agony of waiting for your family.

Whitefish is Recco equipped so they must have conducted a search with it:
http://www.recco.com/resorts-operations/north-american-resorts

I'm pretty sure I heard someone somewhere say most cell phones are almost as reflective/detectable as recco tags are in the snow. The patrol uses the recco detector to help guests find lost cell phones with some success.. or so I've been told.