A massive search effort Saturday on Vail Mountain turned up skeletal remains and items that are consistent with those described by the family of a missing Chinese man.
Yunlong Chen was last spotted at the Vail Transportation Center between 8:15 and 9 a.m. on Feb. 28; a little while later his ski pass was scanned at Gondola One. That was the last known activity related to Chen, Amber Barrett with the Eagle County Sheriff’s Department confirmed.
“The last place it appears for him to have been was skiing on Vail Mountain,” Barrett wrote in an email to the Vail Daily on Thursday, April 18. “Ski patrol and ski school instructors are conducting daily searches. There have also been more than 250,000 people who have skied in Vail since Mr. Chen went missing.”
Saturday’s search efforts resulted in locating what is believed to be skeletal remains in Vail’s Back Bowls, according to a release from the Eagle County Sheriff’s Office. The incident is currently under investigation.
Searchers found items at the scene that are consistent with those described by Mr. Chen’s family to have been with him at the time that he was last seen.
The Eagle County Coroner’s Office will be handling the investigation to positively identify the remains and the cause of death.
Saturday’s search was collaborative effort between Vail Mountain Rescue Group, Vail Ski Patrol, Eagle County Sheriff’s Office, Eagle County Government, Vail Resorts, El Paso County Search and Rescue Group, Mesa County Search and Rescue Group, Chaffiee County Search and Rescue Group, Summit County Search and Rescue Group, Boulder Rescue Squad, Eagle County Coroner’s Office, Colorado Search and Rescue Association, Front Rand Rescue Dogs, Search and Rescue Dogs of Colorado, Eagle County Paramedic Services and The Vail Public Safety Communications Center.