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Hope dims for missing Albuquerque snow boarders
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Time is running out for two Albuquerque snowboarders lost near Wolf Creek Ski Area.
Search crews scoured the area in southern Colorado from dawn until dusk Tuesday looking for any trace of roommates Michael George and Kyle Kerschen, both 27, to no avail.
"We're not finding any signs," Mineral County Sheriff Fred Hosselkus said Tuesday. His agency is one of several participating in the search. "Nothing."
Snow and wind kept helicopters on the ground this morning, but snowmobilers kept up the ground search, said Sandy Kroll, a spokeswoman for the Mineral County Sheriff's Department.
Hosselkus blamed heavy snow during the weekend for obscuring any tracks the two may have left. The ski area reported 58 inches of snow fell from Friday through Monday.
The pair went missing Friday. Their car was found in the Wolf Creek parking lot.
Tuesday night was their fifth on the mountain, where temperatures have sometimes dropped to near zero degrees.
Crews, including two helicopters and 14 snowmobiles, participated in the search Tuesday.
Hosselkus said searchers left the mountain Tuesday evening tired and frustrated.
"We go out to find people," he said. "Unfortunately, this is one of those ones where there's no evidence, no traces. You start losing hope."
It's been difficult to keep morale up among the search teams, Hosselkus said.
"They enjoy getting out there and riding their machines," he said. "The solitude can be really nice, but this situation changes all of that."
The National Weather Service predicts snow throughout today, with periods of heavy and blowing snow. With wind chill, the low overnight is predicted to be minus 10 to zero degrees.
George and Kerschen were probably not equipped for the survival situation they found themselves in, George's mother, Laura George, said earlier this week.
Her son is a nail technician at an Albuquerque salon and has about 10 years of snowboarding experience, she said.
Kerschen's father declined to comment.
A pair of snowboarders lost near Ski Santa Fe had better luck Tuesday morning.
After spending three nights sleeping on pine boughs in snow caves and drinking melted snow, Adam Putnam, 36, and fiancée Rachel Fehl, 30, were rescued by helicopter and taken to St. Vincent Regional Medical Center in Santa Fe.
They were treated and released in a few hours, hospital spokesman Arturo Delgado said.
"They had no significant injuries other than cold toes and mild dehydration," he said. "They were hungry and cold, and extremely tired, but they seemed to be in good spirits."
