Nearly 70 searchers and several dogs continued searching Mount Bachelor today for a snowboarder missing since Saturday, ski area spokeswoman Molly Moloney said today. "We are continuing an inch-by-inch ground search of the area where she was last seen," she said. "We have just a little bit left before we finish that area."

Kate Svitek has been missing since noon Saturday when she separated from her friends while snowboarding in The Northwest Territory. Members of search and rescue teams from Portland, Corvallis, Lane County and Camp Sherman joined Deschutes County Search and Rescue crews, ski patrol members and others combing through the deep snow Tuesday. A second Oregon National Guard helicopter - this one equipped with night vision systems - scanned the area Tuesday but found no trace of her. Ground crews called off the search around dusk Tuesday night and one helicopter continued to search until about 7:30 p.m.

While friends say Kate wasn't an expert snowboarder, she was a certified wilderness first responder and had taken courses with the National Outdoor Leadership School that included wilderness survival training. Moloney said mild weather also increases her chances of survival. "All the odds are in her favor," she said.