The Placer County Sheriff's Office will no longer conduct an emergency rescue search for a skier who had been missing since Christmas.
Sheriff's officials said in a Facebook post on Thursday night they would still conduct "recovery operations" for 43-year-old Rory Angelotta, but "there is no realistic possibility" he survived "the severe winter conditions" in the Sierra Nevada.
"This was a difficult decision, especially for the volunteers who have worked so hard to bring Rory home," the sheriff's office said in a statement published on its Facebook page. "Unfortunately, it was a decision that had to be made. Our hearts go out to the family."
Angelotta's friends reported him missing on Saturday night after he didn't arrive at a Christmas dinner. He made a short call at 11:25 a.m. that day from Northstar, according to an emergency ping on his cell phone, and his ski pass was scanned at Northstar's Comstock lift at 11:30 a.m.
Sheriff's officials asaid Angelotta was an experienced skier who moved to Truckee from Colorado in October, working at a Northstar ski shop. He was believed to have avalanche equipment, according to authorities.
About 220 people from 17 different agencies assisted in the search for Angelotta, according to the Placer County Sheriff's Office. Nordic skiers, snowshoers, snowcats, snowmobiles, and two helicopters assisted in the search, officials said, while contending with additional snowfall and whiteout conditions.
Search and rescue teams received a tip of "fresh tracks" on Tuesday night, later learning the tracks were a bear's.
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