Helicopters are patrolling Blackcomb Mountain, searching for a snowboarder who went missing four days ago.
Ai Ito, 25, was last seen on Thursday, March 20 at approximately 11:30 a.m. on the 7th Heaven chairlift, headed for a solo run.
RCMP officers were only notified of the missing Japanese woman Sunday morning (March 23) and began the search immediately, according to Constable Afzeel Yakub.
“They searched all day yesterday, and they are back out on the mountain again today,” he said Monday.
Whistler Search and Rescue and Whistler-Blackcomb Ski Patrol have joined the search party, and will continue patrolling the area until Ito is found.
Yakub said everyone is still hopeful she will be found alive.
Ito was described to RCMP officers as approximately five feet tall, slim build, and with dark brown hair and brown eyes. She was last seen wearing a white snowboarding jacket, teal coloured snowboard pants and possibly a green toque.
Yakub was not able to specify who reported the incident to the RCMP.
“There had obviously been some time before it was reported to us,” he said. “That is something we will look at down the road, but it is not a priority for us now.”
Since Thursday morning, snow has fallen thick on Blackcomb Mountain. According to the Whistler-Blackcomb website, a total of 39 centimetres of snow has fallen in the last two days alone, and current temperatures in the alpine rest at -6C.
Whistler-Blackcomb had no comment on the incident.
