PLACER COUNTY (KRON) — After five frigid, challenging days of searching in the Sierra, the Placer County Sheriff’s Department has suspended the search for a missing ski instructor.
It is the outcome Carson May’s family and friends were dreading. There will be no more planned searches for the 23-year old ski instructor from Davis, who was currently living in Truckee.
May was last seen on Thursday, his day off, when he went skiing in-and-around Sugar Bowl resort.
It was snowing hard that day, with whiteout conditions, when he set out. And since then, several feet of snow have fallen in that area.
More than 400 volunteers and professional searchers braved dangerous, avalanche-prone conditions starting on Friday when he never made it to his ride home. And his clothes were found in his locker in Sugar Bowl.
On Tuesday, Placer County sheriff’s personnel, Sugar Bowl representatives and chaplains met with the May family.
Sugar Bowl released the following statement on Carson’s disappearance.
After five difficult days of extensive search and rescue efforts to find missing skier Carson May, as of 4 p.m. today (Jan. 19) the Placer County Sheriff’s Office has suspended search and rescue operations. Tragically the hard work and determination of hundreds of search and rescue professionals and volunteers has not resulted in finding Carson.
Carson, 23, a highly regarded friend and colleague of many here at the resort, has spent the past three seasons as a Mountain Sports Learning Center ski school instructor. Staff members and the Sugar Bowl community will be dealing with the impacts of this situation for some time.
First and foremost, however, our heartfelt thoughts and prayers go to the May family, who have been dealing with the unthinkable these past five days. The May family and Sugar Bowl will work together moving forward to try to find some sense of closure.
Sugar Bowl wishes to sincerely thank the more than 400 professionals and volunteers, including seven avalanche dog teams and three helicopter teams who contributed to this monumental effort, including but not limited to:
The Placer County Sheriff’s Office, Tahoe Nordic Search & Rescue, the Nevada, Eldorado, Contra Costa, Fresno, Monterey and Douglas County Search & Rescue Teams, Bay Area Mountain Rescue Unit, Marin County Rescue, the United States Forest Service, California State Parks, Tahoe Backcountry Patrol, Tahoe Avalanche Control Team, Air Force National Guard, California Highway Patrol, and of course Sugar Bowl’s Ski Patrol, National Ski Patrol, Ski School and all staff members.
Without these agencies, we would not have been able to cover the vast terrain involved so quickly. Should anyone have new information please contact the Placer County Sheriff’s Office, and should any new clues arise moving forward they will be investigated to the fullest extent.