Melting snow brings new hope as search for missing Alberta man enters 5th week

Five weeks after her son left a house party in B.C. and seemingly vanished, his mom doesn't hold much hope that he will be found alive.

Nonetheless, Heather Shtuka is determined to keep searching for son Ryan until the mystery of his disappearance is solved.

With sunshine and warmer temperatures at Sun Peaks Resort near Kamloops, volunteers including more than 40 who were bused in from Alberta on Friday continueto look for any clue of the 20-year-old, last seen in the early morning of Feb. 17.

"Five weeks in, I know the likelihood of him surviving is next to none," Heather Shtuka told CBC News. "[We believe] he just got caught up in the elements and we just can't find him."

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Ryan, who lived in Beaumont, Alta., worked the winter season at Sun Peaks. He moved there in December to work as a lift operator at the resort.

When he failed to show up for work on Feb. 18, his parents drove through the night to assist in the search and rescue efforts.

"The snow we are looking in is 14 feet in height. And there are tree wells and the terrain is uneven. And there are so many places that someone could slip and slide down and would be covered by snow," Shtuka said.

"We'll stay until all the snow has melted, because there's no indication that he has left this hill at all. So we don't go until we find him."

Shtuka said she's grateful to the friends and strangers, about 200 in all, who have helped so far in the search.

Hopes were high among this weekend's crew, many of which came out from Beaumont, and Shtuka could see their disappointment when he wasn't found.

• 'I wish I knew': Alberta mother desperate to find son missing in Sun Peaks

She still calls the weekend's efforts a success, saying it allowed them to conclusively strike certain areas off the search list "and we haven't been able to do that for maybe three weeks now.

"We try to find blessings every day. Because if we don't, than this entire thing is just a tragedy and I refuse to believe that my son's life up until now has been anything other than a blessing."

RCMP continue to investigate Shtuka's disappearance.