Rescue teams were searching for a missing skier at Northstar California ski resort on Sunday (Dec. 26).
The 43-year-old skier has been identified as Rory Angelotta, who reportedly lives in Truckee. He is a manager at the Surefoot custom ski boot store in Northstar Village.
Angelotta was skiing Christmas Day at the Tahoe ski resort, which was experiencing some white-out conditions throughout the day.
The search for Angelotta will continue at 8 a.m. on Monday, the Sheriff’s office reported.
But the search for the missing skier will take place in the midst of a significant snowstorm that is supposed to hit the Sierra on Monday.
Due to extreme weather conditions that included low visibility, Northstar did not open Sunday.
A Northstar tweet Sunday stated – “We are expecting heavy snowfall again tonight (Sunday) and will see a delayed opening tomorrow.”
The Sheriff’s office said it is unsure how safe it is to even put rescuers too far into any out-of-bounds areas Monday due to the inherent danger. Searchers looking for the lost man were unable to find any tracks or evidence of where he may have been skiing.
The Sheriff’s office said Angelotta was last seen riding up the Comstock Lift, late Saturday morning. He was first reported missing that evening.
Angelotta was supposed to meet friends for dinner Christmas night. However, he never showed up and his car was found in one of the resort’s parking lots. Calls to his cell phone went directly to voicemail.
An upper-mountain, high-speed lift, Comstock transports skiers and riders more than 1,200 feet to the summit of Northstar, located at 8,604 elevation. It provides access to the resort’s advanced terrain.
Reportedly new to the Lake Tahoe region after living in Colorado, Angelotta was known to be an experienced back country skier and Sheriff’s personnel believe he had avalanche equipment.
Multiple rescue crews spent much of Sunday searching for the skier via snowmobiles. The search areas included some where the possibility of an avalanche is considered high.
Like all the Tahoe ski resorts, Northstar has been hit hard by waves of snow for the past two weeks. The resort, located off Highway 267 in Truckee, reported 34 inches of new snow Sunday morning. Most of its snowfall (217 inches) this season has come since Dec. 12.
