Safety Missing skier off Flower Point

[tball]

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.

That may have been me, as I've told this story before. I lost my phone on a powder day in Copper Bowl.

Copper Patrol offered to search for my phone with Recco as a training exercise after they finished avalanche control work. Fortunately, some kind soul found it and turned it into lost and found, so no Recco training was necessary.

It probably wouldn't have worked, as the signal is really weak from electronic devices compared to a Recco reflector. The recommended search strip width is only 1-2 meters for electronic devices using Recco:

Many electronic devices, including some listed below, may reflect a RECCO signal even when turned off; however, the range will be very short ranging from centimeters to several meters.

To search for these electronic devices requires a slow and methodical search. Search with the detector very close to the snow, and direct all energy directly into the snow. Search corridors should be no wider than 1 to 2 meters.
http://www.recco.com/upload/Global/Images/Downloads/Training material/quick_guide/RECCO-R9-quick-guide-v01_ENG_v05.pdf
​

That's compared to a 20-meter search strip width searching for a Recco reflector, as mentioned in that same manual.

The recommended search strip width for a transmitting beacon is a little larger at around 30 meters:
http://beaconreviews.com/transceivers/search_strip_widths.asp

The patroller that publishes beaconreviews.com also has experience with Recco:
http://beaconreviews.com/transceivers/recco.asp

Hopefully, someday soon, the new helicopter Recco detector will be widely deployed!

 

[graham418]

Have they found this guy yet? Have they looked in Sacramento?

 

[Sibhusky]

Well known member of the community. He's not in Sacramento. Your post is in poor taste at this point.

Have they found this guy yet? Have they looked in Sacramento?

 

[graham418]

Sorry. I didn't mean to be offensive.

 

[Fuller]

S&R was not mobilized the last two days - you would think they would have found him by now, they've had a lot of people looking.

 

[Sibhusky]

S&R was not mobilized the last two days - you would think they would have found him by now, they've had a lot of people looking.

I thought they were just taking off yesterday. I thought I heard the copter in the AM.

 

[Fuller]

They've been congregating at the top of chair 11, using it like a home base to search the canyon. Maybe they've moved the meet up point to a different area? It was snowing hard all day on the back side. Good for skiers, bad for rescue personnel. That guy could have 6 feet of drifted snow on top of him by now.

 

[newboots]

Heartbreaking.

 

[Pete in Idaho]

Sad event. One never knows 100% what is going to happen out there. Spoken by one who knows . Our prayers are with him and his family.

 

[VickieH]

Are there guidelines for how long to search, or when to call it off? I imagine family and friends would want them to search until he's found. I know I would. And I can't imagine being in charge of the search and having to independently make that call.

Every time I come to this thread, I am hoping there is some good news. Such a tough situation.

 

[Ken_R]

Are there guidelines for how long to search, or when to call it off? I imagine family and friends would want them to search until he's found. I know I would. And I can't imagine being in charge of the search and having to independently make that call.

Every time I come to this thread, I am hoping there is some good news. Such a tough situation.

This guy was found 2-3 years later, well, his remains at least. https://www.vaildaily.com/news/huma...ross-wilderness-identified-as-missing-hikers/

 

[Sibhusky]

I've been surprised they've kept at it this long and the sheriff has implied it will go on until he is found. They must not have pressing other issues, look at this as a training opportunity, and feel like Torgerson, who was after all, AN ER DOC, is one of their "own". But yeah, I've been surprised they are still at it. I could see suspending and resuming once the melt starts, but the snow is just getting deeper and deeper, 32" in the last 7 days and I'm thinking it was another 18" from the time he went missing?

 

[Dwight]

@Sibhusky any update?

 

[Sibhusky]

They were still searching this weekend (and I saw a crew going out last Friday), but the snowpack keeps getting deeper. I don't see them finding him until there's a two to three foot drop in the snowpack. They've had dogs out there and found zip.
http://www.kpax.com/story/37634814/...issing-flathead-skier-ramping-up-over-weekend
It'll be a race between searchers and the scavengers, unfortunately.

 

[LiquidFeet]

That's an unsettling thought.

 

[Sibhusky]

He's found.

http://flatheadbeacon.com/2018/05/12/search-crews-recover-body-missing-doctor/

Sounds like he was caught in an avalanche.

 

[pete]

Sad but least family can have closure

 

[Tricia]

Sad but not unexpected after this amount of time. Good vibes go out to the search and rescue people who put countless hours into locating him.

 

[DanoT]

They still haven't found the body of the young man who went missing, also on Feb. 17 at Sun Peaks. He left a house party at 2am, to head home and was never seen again. Most of the snow in the SP Village has melted so the body will now be decomposing, or he could have hiked up hill and died in an area that is still waist deep in snow.

Over 700 volunteers and thousands of hours have found nothing. SAR teams from Alberta and one from Victoria plan on lending a hand soon but it sounds like the missing man's parents who have been renting a place in Sun Peaks and searching since their son vanished, are likely headed back to their family (2 young daughters) in Alberta in a few weeks.

 

[Sibhusky]

More info. Sounds like a transciever/beacon issue.

"Flathead County Sheriff Chuck Curry told the Inter Lake on Monday that Dr. Jonathan Torgerson’s body was found a couple of hundred yards off Canyon Creek Road in a backcountry area accessible from Whitefish Mountain Resort’s Flower Point area.
...
A search dog from Colorado ultimately made the discovery at the bottom of the avalanche path, Curry said.

“He was in an area that had a cursory search previously, but transceivers didn’t get a hit off his beacon,” Curry said.

Curry said it did not appear that Torgerson suffered any traumatic injuries."

Edit: Tons more info in this new article: http://flatheadbeacon.com/2018/05/15/recovery-missing-doctor-brings-closure-community/