Northern Nevada briefly

Search ends at avalanche site; no victims found

Search and rescue teams aided by dogs and helicopters combed an avalanche site at Mount Rose-Ski Tahoe for about four hours on Wednesday before concluding no one was buried in the 100-foot-wide slide.

Authorities initially feared someone could have been trapped because they found tracks leading into the avalanche area but not out of it.

But once they got a closer look, they discovered there were tracks leading out the other side, most likely made by someone crawling.

"The hiker crawled out of it if they got involved with it at all," Washoe County Sheriff's spokeswoman Brooke Keast said.

The search was called off about 3 p.m.

Mike Pierce, spokesman for Mount Rose-Ski Tahoe, said a report of the slide was received around 11 a.m. Wednesday. Ski patrol members determined the avalanche likely occurred overnight or on Tuesday.

The slide occurred below the lodge at East Bowl on the Slide Mountain side of the resort.

Memorial set for soldier killed in Iraq

A memorial service for Staff Sgt. Sean Diamond is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. March 17, his birthday, at St. Gall Catholic Church, Gardnerville.

Diamond, 41, was killed Sunday by a bomb in As-Salam, Iraq.

He is the son of Gardnerville resident Sally Wiley.

"They were building a rifle range," Wiley said Wednesday. "He was going to work on the construction area, going to the same job every day. The first explosion caught the first truck and the second one went off right where Sean was sitting. He was killed instantly."

Diamond will be cremated and transported to Livermore, Calif., where his wife Loramay's family lives.

- Nevada Appeal Staff and wire Reports