By Jill Sperling / Adam Donnelly

Search conditions improve, efforts to find Ryan Shtuka increase

May 13, 2018 | 11:57 AM

SUN PEAKS — It’s been over 12 weeks since 20-year-old Ryan Shtuka disappeared at Sun Peaks Resort. 

Family and friends have refused to give up on finding him, organizing yet another search party this weekend. 

More than 40 volunteer searchers from Alberta flew in on a donated charter flight to scour the resort for any trace of Shtuka. 

“It’s allowed us to bring in a large group,” said volunteer search coordinator Dennis Chin, “and to get in to the ground work now before the undergrowth grows too much, and really search hard in the trees.”

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Chin says conditions have changed significantly at Sun Peaks from when Shtuka first went missing. 

“You notice how much the snow has really melted,” Chin said. “We definitely see how much the creek is overflowing now, that area is pretty well out of bounds for our search right now due to the water flow, but it’s allowed us the opportunity to get into the higher trails, the ski outs, the cat tracks to search those areas where we couldn’t have before.” 

Chin says more volunteers are always welcome to join the search.