Still no Sign of Missing Crystal Skier, Search Continues Friday

Today's search efforts still have not turned up much in locating a Lakewood skier first reported missing at Crystal Mountain Resort on Tuesday, a ski patrol official said this afternoon.

About 60 people participated in the search today for Paul Melby, 40, including ski patrollers as well as regular skiers at Crystal who volunteered to help, said Corey Meador, a ski patroller.

The Pierce County Sheriff's Office also assisted by providing a helicopter to scan the resort from overhead and provide some detailed aerial shots, he said.

The search began at around 8:30 a.m. this morning. As of Thursday afternoon, they had pretty much combed the entire ski area, Meador said, but will resume their efforts again Friday to double back on the terrain and check anything they might have missed.

"We'll check the little trees in between the trees we've already gone over," he said.

Rescuers still hold out hope that Melby is alive, thanks in part to favorable conditions in the past few days. "It hasn't been really cold at night," Meador said. And the fact that only about an inch of snow fell overnight into today kept ski tracks visible and easier to account for, he said.

Friends and family describe Melby as an experienced skier and a regular at the resort. He was last seen by a staffer getting off the High Campbell lift Tuesday. Melby was skiing alone, but he knew people at the resort, and they reported him missing when they noticed his car in the parking lot after the lifts closed at about 4 p.m., said Crystal's director of sales and marketing, Tiana Enger.

Larry Stemp, whose son David is Melby's best friend, said both had been skiing together since they were 6 years old. "[Melby] knows this mountain like nobody else," Stemp said. 

Melby is a big man, Stemp said. He's 6 feet, 7 inches tall, "skinny as a rail and tall as a log."

He had previously served on ski patrol at Crystal, Stemp said.

Son David is part of the search party. "He's absolutely the most stubborn person I know," he said. "I know he's not going to give up, and we won't quit on him."

Melby's mother, Bonny, expressed similar belief in her son's strength. "Paul has been skiing here for 35 years," she said. "He worked ski patrol, he pushed snow, he worked with [avalanche] dynamite. He's done a lot of things and has a lot of survival basic training experience and knowledge. ... I think he's going to be fine."

Tonight's low temperature at Crystal will dip to 19 degrees, according to the National Weather Service. One to three inches of snow accumulation is possible.

Searchers will again take up the effort Friday morning beginning at 9 a.m., Meador said.

More on Tree Wells and Deep Snow

Excerpted from "Tree Well & Deep Snow Safety Info," a pamphlet put together by the Pacific Northwest Ski Areas Association.

A deep snow or tree well accident occurs when a rider or skier falls into an area of deep unconsolidated snow and becomes immobilized. The more the person struggles the more entrapped in the snow they become.

The odds of surviving a deep snow immersion are low, especially if you are not with a partner. In two experiments conducted in the U.S. and Canada in which volunteers were temporarily placed in a tree well, 90 percent could not rescue themselves.

For more information, visit www.treewelldeepsnowsafety.com.