SAN FRANCISCO — Search teams scoured snow-covered slopes Sunday for two missing skiers who were last seen at a Lake Tahoe resort during a storm that dumped more than 2 feet of snow.
A new round of rain and snow arrived Sunday in Southern California, where days of heavy rain and snow last week led to avalanche and traffic deaths, minor floods and landslides.
The skiers — Patrick Frost, 35, and Christopher Gerwig, 32, both of San Francisco — were reported missing Saturday night at the Alpine Meadows resort just north of Lake Tahoe, said Placer County sheriff’s Sgt. Allan Carter.
Frost and Gerwig, described as expert skiers, had last been seen Saturday morning at a resort bar listening to advice about different outlying areas to ski. During the night, the area had temperatures in the 20s, high wind and heavy snow.
While authorities were unsure where they went, Carter said rescuers were searching a wide area that included the back side of Alpine Meadows on the west side of the Sierra crest outside the ski resort’s boundaries.
“Skiers sometimes get to the top of the crest and say the backside looks great, and they go down it. Then they can’t get back up,” he said.
Carter called the skiers’ chances of survival “pretty good.”
