This story makes me equally sad and mad. It seems there were communication failures and judgment calls on both sides that added up to tragedy.

Meaning no disrespect to the family, I have to say that these skiers' actions, however innocent at the time, contributed greatly to the tragic events.

They checked out of their hotel, turned in their rental car, and then went skiing. Innocent, but it means they made themselves completely invisible. No-one knew where they were, there was no trace of them locally, and no-one would miss them for more than a week.

Then they went out of bounds. It's usually pretty hard to go out of bounds by accident, though it's not impossible. That made them doubly invisible. The rest, sadly, we know.

I can understand the reluctance of law enforcement to mount a ground search when there's no report of someone missing. Not only is a wild-goose chase costly, it can put searchers at significant risk. This is very steep mountain terrain in winter; it's serious avalanche country. The follow-up to additional sightings seemed a bit weak as reported (as seen from my comfortable armchair).

Both the skiers and the authorities made judgment calls that turned out to be tragically wrong. Better communication would have averted this.