Skier missing amid blizzard conditions at Tahoe-area resort

TRUCKEE, Calif. - Searchers were battling blizzard conditions at a closed Lake Tahoe-area ski resort in a bid to find a 43-year-old California ski shop manager who was reported missing during after failing to meet friends for Christmas dinner.

Rory Angelotta of Truckee was reported missing late Saturday at Northstar California Resort, the Placer County sheriff’s office said.

Authorities found that Angelotta’s ski pass was last used about 11:30 a.m. Saturday morning on the Comstock lift at Northstar, and his phone logged an emergency ping at about the same time.

Angelotta’s vehicle was found in the Northstar parking lot and calls to his phone have gone to voicemail, officials said.

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The resort between Truckee and North Lake Tahoe has a peak elevation of 8,610 feet.

The Reno Gazette Journal reported the Comstock lift provides access to most of Northstar, including backcountry terrain, and that about 6 feet of fresh snow had fallen in the area after Angelotta was reported missing.

Northstar posted on Twitter that it was closed Sunday and Monday due to "blizzard conditions and large overnight snowfall."

Placer County sheriff’s Sgt. Mike Powers told the Gazette Journal that road closures and whiteout conditions were preventing efforts to get searchers to the area.