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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Search effort increases for Montana skier missing for a week

Associated Press

KALISPELL – A search effort for missing Montana skier will intensify this weekend with additional crews joining the effort in the backcountry near Whitefish Mountain Resort.

Flathead County Sheriff Chuck Curry says the 25-person search party was expected to double on Saturday with the addition of search and rescue crews from Lewis and Clark and Gallatin counties.

Curry tells the Daily Inter Lake that crews are conducting a “methodical, tree-by-tree” search in a one-half to two-thirds square mile area where 62-year-old Columbia Falls physician Jonathan Torgerson was last seen on Feb. 17.

Curry says the search was expected to continue through the weekend, but a winter storm forecast for Saturday could bring another foot of snow to the mountains. About a foot of snow fell the night Torgerson was reported missing.