Search continues into second night for lost skiers

Frustrated rescuers could talk by phone to two skiers lost in the Jewel Basin Wednesday and Thursday; they just couldn't find them.

Charlie Gruys of Indianapolis and Jack Landers of Fargo, N.D., had a cell phone, but no idea where they were.

By Thursday night, after losing all contact with the men, searchers were frustrated and anxious to get to the men before it was too late. At press time, the search was still under way with an infrared search planned overnight if the weather broke long enough.

The two 19-year-old men were backcountry skiing with others when the pair decided to ski down some chutes on Wednesday, said sheriff's deputy Tom Snyder, director of search and rescue.

They called their friends at about 5 p.m. to say they were lost, but believed they could find their way out, he said. When they still weren't out by 8:30 p.m., officials were notified.

Flathead Search and Rescue and Nordic Ski Patrol began the search Wednesday night, Snyder said. They searched throughout the night as the first precipitation in two months fell in the Flathead. It fell with a vengeance.

"It was nasty up there," Snyder said.

About 2 inches an hour came down, conspiring with darkness to limit visibility for searchers.

"They went into tough, tough conditions," Snyder said of rescuers.

Gruys and Landers heard snowmobiles, but couldn't tell where the sound was coming from. Likewise, rescuers could talk to the men on the phone but couldn't tell from their descriptions where they were. All they knew was that the skiers' last landmark was a microwave tower.

At about 5:30 a.m. Thursday, Snyder suspended the search because of brutal weather conditions.

"We had difficulty getting our rigs off the mountain," Snyder said.

The skiers weren't outfitted for an overnight trip. They do have personal locator beacons that are only useful within earshot and a whistle, Snyder said.

"They're dressed well, but they don't have a lot of stuff with them," he said. Both men are said to be in good shape; by Thursday afternoon, they said they felt OK but were hungry.

"They didn't check the weather. They didn't have a plan," he fumed Thursday night as a fresh force of searchers prepared to go out.

North Valley Search and Rescue covered from Graves Creek to Handkerchief Lake as snow continued to fall and there was almost no visibility Thursday, Snyder said.

The snow posed another problem.

About 20 inches of snow fell overnight, landing on an ice crust, compounding all the other risks in the search with significant avalanche danger.

"Crews are tiptoeing through the area," because of that peril, Snyder said Thursday night.

At about 24 hours into the search, there had been about 40 volunteers on the ground and several more offering expertise and equipment.

The border patrol and U.S. Customs, Civil Air Patrol, Air Force and Verizon cell company were all involved.

Verizon was trying to locate the communication tower from which the skiers' phone calls were being relayed. The border patrol was offering a hand-held thermal imager. The forest service had avalanche experts available.

But what it came down to, late in the afternoon - when daylight was fading and so was Snyder's energy - was advice for the skiers in this high-tech age to blow their whistle every five minutes as the search continued.

"It's very frustrating," Snyder said.

Would rescuers get there in time?

"I don't know," he said Thursday night.

His hopes were whetted by authority to use a Montana Air Guard helicopter with Forward-Looking Infrared. The equipment seeks the kinds of heat signatures left by two exhausted skiers on a frigid mountainside.

"The FLIR elevates my hopes," Snyder said.

Permission for that had to come from Langley, Va., and it came painstakingly slowly.

It began with a general assignment number from the federal government, issued at 3 or 4 a.m. Thursday for the Civil Air Patrol. The air patrol couldn't fly Thursday because of poor weather and it doesn't fly in the dark, but the assignment number was used later for the infrared flight.

Snyder hoped the helicopter would arrive by 10 p.m. Thursday from Helena. Whether or not it could fly would depend on whether visibility cleared. At 9 p.m., visibility was about a half mile and snow was still falling, Snyder said.

"I'm praying for a break in the weather," he said.

It would be the first break rescuers got if it happened.

More than 24 hours into the search, they still didn't know what directions the skiers had gone after their friends left. And with no telephone contact after 2 p.m. Thursday, Snyder didn't know if the men were staying put or were moving targets.

He didn't even know if they were still alive.

Reporter Chery Sabol may be reached at 758-4441 or by e-mail at csabol@dailyinterlake.com