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KALISPELL- The search continued late Wednesday evening for a missing skier in the Jewel Basin area after two men were swept up in an avalanche.

Conditions were less than ideal east of Bigfork on Jewel Basin Road as rain fell on top of the snow and ice, making the terrain very difficult for search and rescue crews that were out trying to find this missing skier.

Crews were on the Hungry Horse Reservoir side as well as off off Jewel Basin Road Wednesday evening and were trying to meet in the middle of where this skier is."

"We did have a large avalanche in Jewel Basin hiking area, it's south of Wildcat Lake on the ridge, there were two individuals in there, one of them was buried in the avalanche, right now we're mobilizing our teams to go in," Flathead County Sheriff Chuck Curry explained.

Members of the family were on scene when we arrived at the Jewel Basin and while they asked not to be placed on camera, one relative told us he was with the skier when the avalanche happened, and rushed to the bottom to get help.

Sheriff Curry says weather is a factor in the search efforts.

"The weather conditions now are certainly not optimum, for a response, we attempted to get aircraft in a helicopter, in a private helicopter, they are unable to reach the scene due to a low cloud ceiling, and the weather. Those conditions will probably change tomorrow, so we'll stay on top of that."

But, Curry says they won't give up hope on Wednesday night. "We do plan an overnight search, our personnel are prepared to stay in there if they need to, if they can reach the scene. So we'll continue this until we get a resolution."

The family member we spoke with said the the men were on a high ridge skiing and taking pictures when the avalanche occurred.