SEELEY LAKE – The Seeley-Swan Search & Rescue responded to a report of missing snowmobilers Wednesday, Feb. 7 around 7:30 p.m. All four snowmobilers were found in the Deer Creek drainage at 1:30 a.m. Thursday morning and were in Seeley Lake by 5 a.m. While they had no injuries, they were soaked from the continual rain and according to Incident Commander Missoula County Sheriff’s Sergeant Robert Parcell, they would have had “a miserable night and would have dealt with hypothermia.”
A woman from Bigfork, Mont. reported three snowmobilers missing at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 7 after receiving a text from her husband who was with the group. They gave her the GPS coordinate of their location from their phone which she passed along to rescuers.
“They got down in a drainage and could not get out of it and they didn’t know exactly where it was,” said Parcell. “Luckily they had given her what the cell phone said the GPS was and we were able to hone in on.”
SSSAR sent out Chief Tim Hoag, Auguste Lockwood, John Anders and Jon Haufler on snowmobiles to search for the missing riders. They arrived at the warming hut and were going to go up on the ridge above to see if they could see anything since they were told the snowmobilers were trying to start a fire.
“The snowmobilers kept texting ‘we are not doing well’ and ‘we are soaking wet.’ They were starting to get worried,” said Parcell.
After not being able to get up on the ridge because of the saturated snow conditions, Anders and Haufler returned to Seeley Lake. Hoag and Lockwood, who are both groomer operators for the Seeley Lake Driftriders Snowmobile Club, got the groomer from the West Side bypass trailhead and headed back up the trail.
Parcell said the snowmobilers started walking out but were walking the wrong direction. They got up on a knoll and Hoag and Lockwood were able to see a light at 1:30 a.m.
Hoag contacted them via cell phone. He told the riders to hike to the groomer. When they reached the groomer, they realized there were four snowmobilers.
They got them back to the warming hut and started to warm them up while they shuttled two of them back to Seeley Lake with the groomer and a snowmobile. They returned for the last two on SSSAR’s two-up snowmobiles. Everyone was off the hill by 5 a.m.
“The snowmobilers were very appreciative because they knew they were going to be hurting that night. It kept raining that whole night,” said Parcell who reported Condon received an inch and half of rain. “Without being rescued they were looking at hypothermia.”
Parcell said he has never had to use the groomer before for a rescue.
“It’s a good idea because it gives us another resource,” said Parcell. “We want to thank the [Driftriders Snowmobile] club for the use of it. The groomer gave us more umpf and the lights were a huge help. It worked out really well.”
Parcell said the riders did not need to seek medical attention since rescuers were able to reach them soon enough.
The riders were from Bigfork, Butte and Helena and none of them had ridden in the area before. Parcell said they weren’t as prepared as they should have been for the conditions.
“They had been riding all day since 10:30 a.m. and it rained all day. They were saturated,” said Parcell who added they got stuck when they were riding out.
He recommends carrying flares that could get a fire started even in the rain, change of clothing, rain gear and an emergency blanket.
“It was a real good rescue especially on the part of Tim and Auguste,” said Parcell.
This was not the first rescue SSSAR has been out on this winter.
SSSAR volunteers provided support for the annual OSCR Saturday, Jan. 27. They staff the checkpoints and are available to respond when needed.
One of the returning 50K female racers arrived at the last checkpoint, just eight miles from the finish, and displayed symptoms of hypothermia.
SSSAR volunteers put her in a down sleeping bag and were unable to warm her up. They took her down by sled to the ambulance waiting at Rice Ridge Road and Highway 83. Seeley Lake Fire District volunteer medical personnel were able to warm her up and she did not need to be transported.
“It was a good thing we were out on the trail for that one,” said Hoag.
Sunday, Jan. 28 a participant in the Becoming and Outdoor Woman program broke her femur while skiing on the Seeley Lake Nordic Ski Trails. SSSAR volunteers loaded her in the rescue sled and transported her the mile back to the trailhead where she was loaded into the Seeley Lake Ambulance and transported to Missoula.
SSSAR is always looking for volunteers. They meet the third Tuesday of the month at 6:30 p.m. at the SSSAR building near the Seeley Lake Airport. Meetings are open to the public and last less than an hour to an hour an a half. They also hold trainings throughout the year.
For more information email seeleyswansar1@gmail.com or call Parcell at 406-531-0366.
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