Crews concentrated on ski trails Monday in an effort to locate a 17-year-old Medford resident who was last seen on a chairlift at Sugarloaf Mountain Resort just before 1 p.m. Sunday, officials said.
The teenager, Nicholas Joy, had been skiing with his father all morning, said Maine Warden Service spokesman Doug Rafferty. Joy was last seen near the Timberline trail on the mountain’s west side and was reported missing after failing to meet his family at a designated time, according to a statement released by the ski resort.
“This is a very technical search on rough terrain,” said another spokesman for the Maine service, Corporal John MacDonald.
Ski patrollers have been working with officials from the game warden office, using skis, snowshoes, and snowmobiles to search the mountain.
As of 12:30 p.m., crews had finished their search of the top of the mountain and moved on to ski trails, Rafferty said.
A handful of skiers get lost and are reported missing at Sugarloaf every winter.
In a highly publicized case three years ago, four teenage snowboarders got lost after going out of bounds into ungroomed expert terrain, but they survived a cold night by continually moving around to stay warm.
In a separate incident at the nearby Saddleback ski resort near Rangeley, searchers found two skiers Monday morning who were reported missing the day before.
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