The third day of an extensive search for a pair of snowshoers last seen Christmas Day came to an end when the weather forced rescue crews to suspend the mission.

Members of North Shore Rescue spent most of Wednesday on the north side of Strachan Mountain, a summit located inside Cypress Provincial Park, where witnesses reported seeing two missing Vancouver men on the weekend.

Roy Tin Hou Lee, 43, and Chun Sek Lam, 64, departed for Cypress on Sunday and never returned home. Their vehicle was found unattended in the parking lot of the Cypress Mountain ski area.

"I hope they are safe and can come home. Everybody is waiting for them to come home. Please," the men's friend Ming Chan told CTV News.

Lee and Lam are experienced hikers, but did not tell anyone exactly which path they planned to take through the mountains. NSR had to spread its resources over three mountains in the early days of the search, but were able to narrow their search down to Strachan Mountain thanks to tips from other hikers who'd been in the area on Sunday.

"We've had tips come in from hikers who were in the area on Christmas Day saying they had seen two Asian males snowshoeing on the Howe Sound Crest Trail," NSR team leader Mike Danks.

"To us that's a big bonus because we really had nothing to go on prior to that."

Tuesday afternoon was spent combing the slopes of Strachan, and a glimmer of hope arrived when ground crews heard yelling in the northeastern part of the mountain. They were unable to confirm it was the missing snowshoers before having to pause the search at sundown, but returned to the area at daybreak on Wednesday.

"I feel this is a really pivotal day for these guys so we're going to do everything we can," Danks told CTV News in the morning.

There are a few reasons to be optimistic. Danks said if the two men are together, they'll be better able to keep warm, and will have had an easier time building a shelter.

"We've had calls in the past where single people have been out for three days in weather similar to this, so it is survivable."

Crews spent another day on the slopes of Strachan, but their desperate efforts were slowed by conditions that were far from ideal.

Cloud cover was so low that search and rescue helicopters had to land after only a few hours of attempting to search the area from above with an infrared camera capable of detecting body heat.

Snow was falling in the area and Danks said there was "considerable avalanche danger" so his team had to be strategic in its efforts.

The search was suspended again Wednesday night when the sun set, and crews were forced to turn back without finding any signs of the men.

"Reviewing the weather conditions – which necessitated some of the searchers to be removed, frankly for their own safety – we have agreed to temporarily suspect active search operations tonight and pending an improvement in the weather," West Vancouver Police Const. Jeff Palmer said.

Rescuers said that finding any trace of the men has been difficult, with fresh snow covering any tracks they may have made, and no signal coming from their cellphones. A risk of avalanche means some areas are too dangerous for search crews to reach.

With files from CTV Vancouver's Nafeesa Karim and Scott Hurst