BEND, Ore. (AP) - A 21-year-old skier missing on Mount Bachelor was found Monday in good shape despite spending a night in the snow and temperature that dipped to freezing, authorities said.
“He is alive,” Lt. Scott Shelton of the Deschutes County sheriff’s office said about noon after searchers located Ryan Melrose Deyoung of Bend.
Deyoung, who has autism, bought a day pass Sunday for the ski area at Mount Bachelor and last used it about 9 a.m., the Bend Bulletin (https://bit.ly/1jzuAeK ) reported.
About 1:30 the ski patrol saw tracks across the “catch line” at the eastern edge of the ski area, but couldn’t find a skier to go with them. It determined they were likely Deyoung’s, touching off a search with helicopter help.
By Monday morning more than 50 rescue workers were involved in an operation that spread to the summit of the 9,068-foot mountain and had investigators looking into the possibility Deyoung had skied out to a highway and gotten a ride back to Bend.
But searchers said that a tip from a viewer who had come across footprints in an unusual area led searchers to where Deyoung was. He was found about 1.5 miles east of Mt. Bachelor’s Sunrise Lodge.
“He was out quite a ways beyond,” Shelton said.
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Information from: The Bulletin, https://www.bendbulletin.com
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