Air, ground search to resume for missing snowboarder at Mt. Hood Meadows

(Update: Search fails to find snowboarder, to resume Thursday)

MOUNT HOOD, Ore. (KTVZ) – An extensive air and ground search Wednesday failed to locate a Portland-area snowboarder missing in the area of the Mt. Hood Meadows ski resort and will resume on Thursday, the Hood River County Sheriff’s Office said.

The sheriff’s office received information around 9:30 p.m. Tuesday of a missing snowboarder at the resort, identified as Ryan Mather, 30, of Aloha. He was reported missing by his girlfriend, who said he’d been snowboarding at Mt. Hood Meadows during the day and failed to return home.

Mather’s vehicle was found at the resort, and personnel from the Hood River County Sheriff’s Office, Hood River Crag Rats and Mt. Hood Meadows Ski Patrol began a search for him.

Overnight search efforts proved unsuccessful.

Wednesday’s search focused on areas around the Shooting Star Express chairlift, Mather’s last reported location as of late Tuesday morning. It includes access to some backcountry areas, deputies said.

More than 40 ground searchers in 14 teams "covered a significant amount area throughout the day," the sheriff's office said in a Wednesday evening update, despite "increasing avalanche dangers in much of the search area as temperatures rose in the afternoon."

Air assets from the Oregon Army National Guard and drones operated by Pacific Northwest Search and Rescue were utilized to supplement ground searches.  

Assisting with search operations Wednesday were the Clackamas, Deschutes and Lane County sheriff's offices, Hood River Crag Rats, Pacific Northwest Search and Rescue, Portland Mountain Rescue, Eugene Mountain Rescue, Corvallis Mountain Rescue, Mt. Hood Meadows Ski Patrol and avalanche dog, Mt. Hood Meadows Public Safety, the Oregon Army National Guard,  and Oregon Emergency Management.