Family joins search for missing Aus woman in Canadian ski village
The family of an Australian woman missing for more than a week in Canada has arrived to join the search.
Alison Raspa, 25, was last seen on November 22, when she left a bar in the ski village of Whistler, north of Vancouver on Canada's west coast, about 11.30pm.
The Perth woman's phone was found in a small lakeside park, some five kilometres away, about 6.30am the following day.
On Friday, Staff Sergeant Paul Hayes, of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Whistler, confirmed that Raspa's family had arrived from Perth.
The search for Raspa was ongoing on Friday, with fire department crews out on a lake near where Raspa's phone was found.
An earlier lake search by divers, and ground searches by police and search and rescue teams, failed to find further clues as to her whereabouts.
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A helicopter had been used in the search but poor weather, including overnight snow, was preventing its use on Friday, Hayes said.
Police are also continuing to inspect Raspa's phone for clues, he said.
Raspa's friends also launched their own search on Friday morning, walking from Whistler's gondolas near Three Below, the bar where she was last seen, to Alpha Lake in Creekside, where her phone was discovered. The walk takes about an hour.
Police do not believe Raspa walked the distance because of the late hour and the cold, with temperatures in Whistler dropping to 0C throughout the past week.
Hayes would not confirm if a driver was being sought. He said police "had some thoughts" as to how Raspa got to Creekside, but they were yet to confirm whether those were correct.
Hayes earlier told AAP there was no indication of foul play but added police "have not ruled out any option in terms of what has happened or where Ms Raspa could be."
