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Carson May standing against a sunset. CarsonMay.org photo.
The body of Carson May, a 23-year-old ski instructor at Sugar Bowl, has been recovered after he'd been missing for 6 weeks, the Sacramento Bee reports.
May, a resident of Davis, CA was last seen by his brother on January 14 when the two of them were skiing at Sugar Bowl. May is thought to have gone out of bounds to take an alternate route back to his locker at the resort base, at which point he was alone.
With the help of May's brother and the location of the last "ping" to his cellphone, a search and rescue team and avalanche dogs were able to locate May's body under 5 ft of snow, a quarter mile outside of the resort boundaries.
Carson May smiles at the camera. CarsonMay.org photo.
It is thought that May perished in an avalanche due to the considerable amount of snow he was buried under, Sugar Bowl’s chief executive officer, Greg Dallas told the Sacramento Bee.
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The search effort was undertaken by the Tahoe Nordic Search and Rescue Team and the El Dorado County Search and Rescue Dog Ream. There was an intensive search for the first 5 days May was missing, but it was called off due to severe weather conditions and high avalanche danger.
Beaujet, a female German Shepherd avalanche rescue dog, was the one who located May's body and alerted the search team. CarsonMay.Org photo.
Our thoughts are with the May family at this time. The May family has created a website in honor of their son: CarsonMay.org. The website says that May was an avid photographer, musician and skier, and that he loved bunnies. It also acknowledges the families gratitude to the 400 people who played a role in this recovery effort and to the dog team.
Mike May, Carson's father is researching more effective ways of locating people in the snow through looking at law enforcement tactics. For more information about Carson's life, and his father's project click here.
Also, please remember that avalanche safety gear including a beacon, shovel and probe, and a partner and a plan are always necessary when entering the backcountry.
