UPDATE: The skier missing on Whiteface Mountain since last Wednesday and presumed dead has been found alive and well in California. New York state police confirmed that the 49 year old Canadian man is in good health and in contact with local authorities in Sacramento.

Danny Fillipidis is a firefighter from Toronto who vanished while skiing with friends.

No details yet on why he disappeared. The 5-day search exposed more than a hundred forest rangers, state police and others to harsh weather and risky alpine conditions.

Previously:

Related stories: Mystery: Missing Whiteface skier turns up safe in California Searchers are back on Whiteface Mountain in Wilmington this morning, hoping to find a Canadian man who went missing last Wednesday.

Constantinos Danny Filippidis, age 49 from Toronto Canada, had been skiing at the popular resort with friends when he vanished.

This isn't a typical search and rescue operation like we often see in the Adirondack backcountry. Here Fillipidis, a firefighter on holiday, went missing at a resort in Wilmington that includes ski lifts, lodges, restaurants and regular patrols.

Officials say they actually tracked the location of the missing skier through the day, as his ticket was scanned at ski lifts.

"He was tagged at the base of the mountain every hour on the hour until the moment he went missing," said Jon Lundin with the Olympic Regional Development Authority, which operates Whiteface Mountain.

"The last time the beep happened was in the one o'clock hour."

After that last ping, a mystery

It seems baffling that someone could go missing in a resort area for nearly a week, but state Forest Ranger Captain John Streiff says the search area includes a big part of a snow-covered mountain.

"Danny was reported by his friends to ski patrol to be at mid-station at around 2:30 pm on Wednesday. That's the last sighting we have. Just look at Whiteface, there's a lot of real estate up there, a lot of rugged alpine conditions."

Weather has been brutal here. A big snowstorm blew in the night Filippidis went missing. There’ve also been high winds. New York state police Major John Tibbets says that’s hampered search efforts by air.

"The helicopters have suffered mightily," he said. "We scaled back the drone operations with the freezing rain and snow we got, but they're back out there again.

Focusing on areas where a skier might have made a mistake

The working theory is that Filippidis simply missed a turn and skied off the trail, possibly hitting a tree in the woods or dropping into a ravine. "That's giving up our probability areas [to search]," Streiff said. He added that the missing man's family is staying in the Lake Placid area. "They're very supportive of what we're doing and very appreciative of all our efforts."

This is a huge operation, involving state and federal agencies as well as local responders and a contingent of Toronto firefighters, more than 130 people scouring the mountain. "Everyone's put their egos aside and we've had the single goal of finding Danny and bringing him home," said ORDA's Lundin.

"This is very rare. Nobody can recall that this has ever occurred before," he added.

State police are asking for tips, anyone who saw anything out of the ordinary last Wednesday at Whiteface. They’re also looking for anyone with photographs or go-pro video footage from the Mountain that day.