When deputies found Constantinos "Danny" Filippidis at the Sacramento International Airport on Tuesday, he had a new iPhone, a hair cut and little memory of how he got there, according to a sheriff's office spokesman.

Filippidis, 49, had been missing since last Wednesday when he told friends he wanted to make one last ski run on Whiteface Mountain in the Adirondacks.

That kicked off a nearly week long search in the Adirondacks involving more than 250 people - plus helicopters, drones, dogs and other equipment. The searchers faced tough mountain terrain and at times brutal winter weather, including more than a foot of snow on the first day of the search.

In six days, Filippidis told deputies at the airport that he traversed nearly 3,000 miles from the Adirondacks to Sacramento, Calif.

Filippidis, a 28-year veteran of the Toronto fire department, called his wife on Tuesday from the airport in Sacramento and she urged him to call 911.

When deputies arrived, they didn't entirely believe Filippidis' story until running him through a missing persons' database, said Sgt. Shaun Hampton, the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department police information officer.

"Our deputies didn't immediately understand the gravity of the situation," Hampton said.

Though Filippidis remembered little, he recalled skiing and thought he'd suffered a head injury, Hampton said.

He told deputies he'd forgotten how he arrived at the airport or who drove him there, but that he rode in a "big rig-style truck" and slept "a lot," Hampton said.

Between the Adirondacks and Sacramento, Filippidis bought an iPhone, he told deputies, which he used to call his wife on Tuesday. Filippidis told deputies a truck dropped him off in downtown Sacramento, where he got a hair cut, Hampton said.

The missing skier had forgotten how he traveled from downtown Sacramento to the airport -- approximately 11 miles, Hampton said.

Deputies thought Filippidis was injured or was suffering some sort of medical problem when they arrived and convinced the responding fire department to have Filippidis taken to an area hospital, Hampton said.

Filippidis was still dressed in his ski pants, ski jacket, boots and had his helmet. He had been on an annual ski trip at Whiteface Mountain with fellow firefighters and retired firefighters when he disappeared.

"It seemed to (the deputies) he had a significant amount of memory loss," Hampton said.

Filippidis had moments of lucidity while he was with the deputies, according to Hampton.

Though deputies said they don't know how Filippidis arrived in Sacramento aside from what he's told them, Hampton said the sheriff's office is not currently investigating the incident.