Search suspended

Authorities have suspended the search for two skiers reportedly caught in a Sunday afternoon avalanche in the Canyon Creek drainage.

Poor weather, the instability of the surrounding snow, and because no one has been reported missing prompted officials Wednesday to call off the rescue effort, according to the Flathead County Sheriff's Office.

The four-day search was launched after two snowmobilers who witnessed the avalanche told authorities that in addition to the two men killed and one survivor, they saw two more skiers on the trail get swept up in the slide.

Officials again brought the snowmobilers to the avalanche site Wednesday to establish physical reference points to help in the search.

Rescuers used probe poles and avalanche-trained dogs in an attempt to locate skiers in the area the witnesses described seeing, but search efforts were unsuccessful.

On Monday, more than 100 rescuers from three counties probed into 25-30 feet of snow as groomers from Whitefish Mountain Resort scraped layers away to allow personnel to probe deeper. On Tuesday, rescuers again ran probe lines and used avalanche-trained dogs near where the lost skiers were thought to have been seen last.

But winds on the summit of Big Mountain reached 30 to 50 mph Tuesday as 8-14 inches of snow fell on the avalanche site, hindering search efforts and endangering rescuers.

Heavy snow loading in the area prompted experts from the U.S. Forest Service and Nordic Ski Patrol to raise the avalanche danger to "high."

The Sheriff's Office received 12 missing-persons reports, but all of those people had been ruled out as potential victims of the avalanche. Deputies also located the owners of five cars left in the parking lot overnight Sunday.

Detectives have contacted each motel, rental car agency, winter sports equipment rental business, condominium rental agency, dude ranch, bed and breakfast, and shuttle bus company in Flathead County hoping to find out if anyone on vacation without a car might be missing. Whitefish police also spoke with each of the county's taxi companies.

Authorities will re-evaluate further searches of the avalanche area should any new information regarding the case surface, according to the Sheriff's Office.

Reporter Nicholas Ledden can be reached at 758-4441 or by e-mail at nledden@dailyinterlake.com