PRAYING FOR MIRACLES
Relatives and searchers remain hopeful of finding two men missing on Cypress Mountain since Christmas Day but they’re running out of leads
The search for two snowshoers missing since Christmas Day has been suspended for the second day in a row.
Search and rescue crews were out again Tuesday, looking for a trace of Roy Tin Hou Lee, 43, and Chun Sek Lam, 64, who did not return from a snowshoeing hike on Cypress Mountain on Dec. 25.
On Tuesday afternoon, hope briefly flared for the men’s safe return after crews believe they may have made voice contact with the pair in the northeast area of Strachan Mountain.
But by nightfall rescuers had been unable to make visual contact or locate the men, and now believe the yelling they had heard had come from another out-of-bounds skier who later got himself back to safety.
“At this point, we don’t have any further leads to go on,” said North Shore Rescue spokesman Mike Danks.
“We don’t want our crews out in the night while we’re not able to narrow down the search area. It’s just not very safe to be operating in areas we are not familiar with.”
Two helicopters were dispatched to fly over the area Tuesday. One was equipped with thermal imaging infrared cameras, while another was used to transport teams to different areas.
Tuesday’s search followed an unsuccessful attempt on Monday when more than 20 volunteers fanned out into the snow and fog to look for the two men, believed to be experienced hikers.
“We’ve got really good support from everybody,” said search manager Don Jardine of the North Shore Rescue crew, many of whom left holiday celebrations at home to pitch in. “It’s over Christmas so it’s hard on the families but we’ve had B.C. Parks, Lions Bay (Search and Rescue), Cypress, and North Shore Rescue have all been out looking but there’s only so much we can do because of the avalanche hazard.”
Authorities were alerted to the men’s predicament after Cypress Mountain staff found Lee’s vehicle in the parking lot on Dec. 25 after the resort had closed for the day. According to Const. Jeff Palmer with the West Vancouver Police, the location of where Lee’s car was parked near the base of the mountain indicated the pair would have arrived quite early in the day.
North Shore Rescue asked anyone who snowshoed the Howe Sound Crest Trail on Christmas Day to report any sightings of the two snowshoers that day. But as the men did not leave a trip plan, crews had no clues of their planned route, or which mountain they might be on.
As weather conditions improved Tuesday, crews were able to search large areas of Cypress Mountain Resort, including Black Mountain, Hollyburn Mountain and Strachan Mountain.
“We are trying to cover all three of those areas,” said Danks.
Meanwhile, family members and friends of the two men waited anxiously for news and prayed for their safe return. Some appeared to be organizing their own search on social media, but were advised against it by North Shore Rescue because of treacherous weather conditions and a continued risk of avalanches.
C.S. Lam, who lives in California, said his older brother Chun Sek took care of their mother until three and a half years ago when she went to live in a nursing home.
Since then, he retired and became an avid hiker, venturing up trails and mountains once or twice a week.
“My family is in extreme distress and pray that miracles will happen to my brother and Mr. Lee in this cold weather,” he said in an email.
Crews plan to resume the search at first light Wednesday and remain hopeful about a positive outcome.
“What they have going for them is they’re together,” said Danks. “That’s a positive.”
“A negative thing is they have some pretty harsh weather to go through here, and it doesn’t appear they’re really well-prepared to be out overnight, let alone a third night.”
Earlier on Tuesday, crews mounted a successful longline rescue of a 20-year-old snowboarder who spent a cold night on Cypress Mountain.
Arslan Zhunus got lost after going out-of-bounds Monday off the Howe Sound Crest Trail. Crews found him, but were unable to get him off the mountain until Tuesday morning.