Searchers admit it will be recovery mission once search for B.C. man resumes

ELKO, Nev. – American authorities are admitting it will likely be a recovery mission the next time they’re able to search for a missing 59-year-old B.C. man who vanished in the rugged Nevada backcountry.

The massive effort to find Albert Chretien concluded Monday after about 160 trained and volunteer searchers spent 10 days combing the mountains by foot, snowshoe, aircraft, horseback, all-terrain vehicles and with dogs.

Chretien disappeared nearly two months ago while attempting to hike towards a main highway to get help after his van got stuck on a backcountry road.

Seven weeks after the couple became stranded hunters found his wife, Rita, in the van, and she has since returned to her hometown of Penticton, B.C., where she was released from hospital over the weekend.

Cpl. James Carpenter with the Elko County Sheriff’s Office in Nevada says it could be weeks before deep snow melts enough in the nearly 78,000-hectare area of forest for searchers to return.

The couple was driving to Las Vegas on a business trip in mid-March when their GPS device led them astray.