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Body found after three-day search for skier missing in Snowy Mountains

A body has been found in the police search for a cross-country skier missing for two nights in freezing temperatures in the NSW Snowy Mountains.

Body found in Snowy Mountains in search for missing skier

Police have located a body in the NSW Snowy Mountains following a three-day search for a missing back-country skier.

The missing man, 23-year-old Andrew Seton from Canberra, had not been seen since Saturday.

Police revealed the body is yet to be formally identified, but is believed to be the body of Mr Seton.

He last made contact with family around 10am on Saturday, just before leaving Guthega for the day, and police were called when he’d failed to check in with relatives by the afternoon.

Shortly after the search began, police located his vehicle in the Guthega carpark.

Andrew Seton has been missing since Saturday. Picture: Mountain Safety Collective / Facebook
Andrew Seton has been missing since Saturday. Picture: Mountain Safety Collective / Facebook

On Tuesday, a new area of the snowfields was targeted by a search team and PolAir officers were winched down, where the body was located.

Police had previously said that due to the terrain and weather conditions, they were not in a position to confirm any further information until specialist police had attended the site.

Police are still continuing operations to retrieve the body, and a report will be prepared for the coroner.

The man is missing near Watsons Crag. Picture: Instagram
The man is missing near Watsons Crag. Picture: Instagram

An experienced skier, Mr Seton was reportedly well equipped for the conditions when he headed out on Saturday, having packed enough food for an overnight stay as well as a personal locater beacon.

Police resumed a search for him on Monday morning with help from the State Emergency Service, as well as officers from the National Parks and Wildlife Service.

Monaro police Superintendent John Klepczarek said the search began on Sunday after the man’s family contacted police.

“He is experienced and has stayed overnight before,” he said.

“But since he hadn‘t contacted the family late yesterday, they did raise the alarm with police.”

The NSW SES had deployed 30 trained members of a specialist alpine and search unit based in Jindabyne and eight snow mobiles.

Original URL: https://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-updates/skier-missing-for-two-nights-in-snowy-mountains-identified/news-story/616f50168fa43f78611c32b280555f63