Petition calls for B.C. resort to name ski run after former staffer who went missing nearly 5 years ago
An online petition is calling for a major alpine resort in B.C. to name one of its ski runs after Ryan Shtuka, a former staffer who has been missing since 2018.
London Cramer, a friend of Shtuka's, started the campaign last Saturday.
It has since garnered nearly 2,300 signatures in support of the idea to honour Shtuka's memory and legacy at Sun Peaks Resort, about 60 kilometres northeast of Kamloops.
"I just thought a good way to honour him would be to have a run in his name, just showing that he was there to do what he loved to do and just to keep his memory living on," Cramer told host Shelley Joyce on CBC's Daybreak Kamloops.
Shtuka, from Beaumont, Alta., then 20 years old, worked as a lift operator for the resort. He also loved to snowboard, describes Cramer in the petition.
Shtuka was last seen at around 2 a.m. on Feb. 17, 2018 after leaving a house party, according to police.
Hundreds of volunteers from B.C. and Alberta spent months searching alongside local search-and-rescue teams and police. The investigation into his disappearance remains ongoing.
Cramer, who first got to know Shtuka in university in Edmonton, says she is still in shock nearly four years after her friend's disappearance.
"It's something that you don't think is going to happen to somebody that you know," she said.
"It doesn't really get easier."
Shtuka's disappearance has also shaken the small alpine community of Sun Peaks, home to about 1,400 residents.
"No matter how much time has gone on, it's a thought that's been in the back of everyone's minds, especially those of us who lived here during the search, the really intense searching period when he first went missing," Jean Strong, editor of the Sun Peaks Independent News, told CBC News in February 2021.
"It's nothing that we'll ever really forget."
'Another way to help Ryan's memory to live on'
Cramer says she has created a project every year since 2018 to commemorate Shtuka, and this year, she thinks it's the best idea to have a ski run named after her friend.
She admits she hadn't discussed the idea with Sun Peaks before starting the petition, but hopes the resort is open to the idea.
"I know Sun Peaks [Resort] is doing a tonne for Ryan, and they've been so good to his family and so supportive," she said.
"I thought this would be another way to help Ryan's memory live on."
In an emailed statement to CBC News, Sun Peaks Resort said it continues to work with Shtuka's family on a variety of initiatives to honour his legacy, although they did not mention the petition or whether they would consider naming a run after him.
