The search for 22-year-old snowboarder Kate Svitek of Upper Dublin, who disappeared Feb. 9 on Mount Bachelor in Bend, Ore., was discontinued, authorities said. The effort had been "scaled down" Feb. 19, after a 10-day operation that included rescuers in helicopters and on snowshoes and skis.

Dan Swearingen, acting search and rescue coordinator for the Deschutes County Sheriff's Department, said the last search party was sent out Feb. 23. The last search was prompted by information provided by a psychic, Swearingen said. The psychic pointed out an area that was "within the scope of the search," but to no avail. At that point, the department was willing to try anything, he said. The operation now is the responsibility of regular Mount Bachelor ski resort patrols, and any rescue training sessions held on the mountain, Swearingen said.

In his opinion, Swearingen said he does not have a theory on what happened to Svitek. He said he thought she would be found injured and stuck in a tree well.
The city's Web site, www.bend.com, has reported Feb. 25 that Deschutes County Sheriff Les Stiles said the operation will continue, if only to attempt to provide some closure for the Svitek family and rescuers.
"These folks don't have closure…" Stiles said at a press conference. The rescuers "are very emotionally invested in these searches."

Svitek's disappearance in an established ski area "fueled speculation about foul play," the Web site stated, but Stiles was quoted as saying, "There remains absolutely no evidence of that." The site confirmed the sheriff's office does have two detectives investigating the incident, which is normal procedure for a missing persons case.

The Web site also states Svitek's disappearance was the third in eight months in the mountains of central Oregon. According to the site, in June 2001 mountain climber Corwin Osbourne, 45, of Washington state, disappeared, and in November hiker Danny Curran, 24, of Springfield, Delaware County, failed to return from a run to the summit of a mountain.

According to the site, one of the rescuers, Curtis Ciszek, posted several notes on the site asking for more searches in heat vents that occur in a section of the mountain called the "cinder cone." Ciszek said during the search, he found vents in the mountain that "were easily 12 feet deep and as big around."

"A team should go there and climb into them," Ciszek wrote. The Web site quoted the former coordinator of search and rescue Chris Nolte, who resigned the position Feb. 23 after six months on the job, as saying when people fall in the vents they leave an indentation.
"The snow is not going to swallow you up, and then close back up," Nolte was quoted as saying.

In Svitek's hometown of Upper Dublin, Jim Connor, headmaster of Germantown Academy, remembered the outgoing environmentalist. Svitek was a popular student who was involved in many extracurricular activities, Connor said. "She was very independent, honest…. dependable and unpretentious," Connor said. "She always had a smile on her face. Just a great kid."
Connor said Svitek, who graduated from the University of Vermont, played tennis and softball, represented her class at Germantown Academy in student government and was involved in the ethics committee at school.
Svitek loved the outdoors, Connor said, and spent much of her out-of-school time in environmental activities.

A quote from an essay Svitek wrote for college described her love of adventure and the outdoors, Connor said. "Nothing feels better than to know you went through your own hell to get to the top of a peak just to see the sun set," Svitek wrote.