Authorities in Oregon were still searching Tuesday for 22-year-old Kate Svitek, a member of Beth Or Congregation in Spring House, who vanished nearly two weeks ago from an area ski slope.

Svitek, a ticket attendant at Mount Bachelor ski resort in Bend, Ore., separated from two friends under clear skies on Feb. 9, while snowboarding down the mountain, according to resort spokesperson Molly Moloney.
What happened to separate the snowboarders is "very typical of a ski day," explained Moloney. "They started out at the top of the mountain, traversed off together, took a couple of turns and figured they would see each other at the bottom."

But Svitek, a graduate of Germantown Academy and the University of Vermont, never made it down, said Moloney. According to Moloney, foul play is not suspected. Rather, Moloney explained that Mount Bachelor is a 9,000-foot-high volcano, and Svitek may have fallen into a deep hole created by escaping hot air. Or, Moloney suggested, it's possible Svitek fell into a "hazardous tree well," a sheltered area around the base of the tree where a well of loose snow with air pockets can form. The odds of surviving in a deep-snow immersion are low, but Moloney said searchers are buoyed by the fact that Svitek is healthy and very experienced in outdoor survival.
For more than a week, nearly 100 professional rescue workers and volunteers in the Pacific Northwest have been involved in the search for Svitek - a search that's been aided by clear skies and favorable weather.
"We've literally done an inch-by-inch grid of the area where she was last seen," said Moloney, but, "it's a pretty long run, covering two to three square miles."

How long will they continue to look? Every day, the search team meets to evaluate its progress and decide whether to continue, explained Moloney.

Family waits for news

Back in Spring House, Beth Or congregants are doing what they can to support the Svitek family - parents Ellen and Frank, and brother Michael.
Kate Svitek was Bat Mitzvahed and confirmed at Beth Or; Ellen Svitek is an officer there. The synagogue held a special Shabbat service last week to pray for Svitek's safe return. The service was broadcast via phone to the Svitek family, who are now in Oregon.

Beth Or's religious leader, Rabbi Gregory Marx, has also gone to Oregon to offer the family his support, according to Elizabeth Hirsch, the synagogue's president. Kate Svitek, she said, "is a lovely girl from a very close family."

"You feel sorry, of course, and helpless. There isn't a whole lot you can do. But we're all praying."