Well last night's party and awards ceremony was overshadowed by the fact we were still missing 2 pilots. By late last night one of the pilots was found, after landing out deep in the backcountry, walking the wrong way, and leaving his gear behind. That left just one pilot still missing, and unfortunately his PWC live tracking unit wasn't transmitting properly after a certain point, and he doesn't have a SPOT.**
SAR was out all night looking for him based on his last known live tracking co-ordinates and we are continuing the search today with both air and ground crews. Our hope is that he landed out, walked the wrong way, spent the night wrapped in his glider, and is continuing to walk today so we are combing all the backroads. Honza has arrived and is hiking up Scorpion Peak in the suspected search area to setup a high-powered radio and co-ordinate from up there.
No flying today due to forecasted thunderstorms (we actually had some early this morning) and the fact the upper chairlift is out of order...there was a recorded gust of 70mph last night (probably during one of the t-storms) so I'm thinking it may have temporarily knocked the chairlift out.
** When flying Sun Valley a SPOT is highly recommended. It's basically the best thing for almost-live tracking in this type of mountainous terrain. SPOTs are mandatory for next week's Open Distance Comp.
I'm not a religious type but I'm praying that he's alive and well - he's a good friend of mine...
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