It's fair to say the mood among volunteers remains grim as the continued search for missing Whistler resident Clorrica Riggs approaches the three-week mark.
Searchers have spent the past 19 days scouring hundreds of kilometres of terrain on the west side of the Whistler Valley, but have turned up no new signs of the 29-year-old Whistler Blackcomb employee since her silver RAV4 SUV was found parked at the Rainbow Lake trailhead on Alta Lake Road on Tuesday, Aug. 23.
That doesn't mean, however, that there haven't been heartening moments of gratitude and appreciation for a community that has pulled together to help. For example, a new Whistler resident who got off a plane from Australia headed up the Sea to Sky highway and straight for the search site to offer his help, explained a family member of Riggs' Pique spoke with last week—who described the man as "a beautiful human being"—a GoFundMe campaign that has so far raised more than $13,800, surpassing its $5,000 goal, or the many small, local businesses that have been willing to post a "missing person" poster in their windows. Whislife's owner also reached out to Riggs' family "a number of times" with offers of food, drinks and anything else searchers needed, while Riggs' employer has reportedly helped provide food vouchers and hotel rooms for her family and non-profit search dog teams.
As of late last week, family, friends and other volunteers who registered with search party organizers had explored 148 kilometres of terrain and clocked 5,413 metres of elevation on Rainbow Mountain over 70 hours, including non-profit teams equipped with specially-trained cadaver dogs. Those statistics don't include the ground covered by police, Whistler Search and Rescue crews, drones and underwater cameras.
In a release issued Sept. 8, Sea to Sky RCMP confirmed Riggs remains missing. "The police coordinated search remains active daily, and includes Whistler Search and Rescue, volunteer searchers, some with search dogs, and RCMP searches on quads," police explained.
Riggs had been struggling with her mental health prior to her disappearance, according to friends and family.
Her situation is indicative of larger mental health issues within Whistler's young community, a family member explained. While support services exist in Whistler, it is up to individuals to find them and seek them out—more proactive mental health support services, including from employers, could go a long way to helping those in need, they said.
The search for Riggs is ongoing. Police ask anyone with any information regarding her disappearance to contact the Whistler RCMP at 604-932-3044, or contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS or solvecrime.ca to stay anonymous.
