Two skiers who were reported missing were found safe Sunday after building a fire and spending the night in the Mount Zirkel wilderness.
Randy Oehme and Bill Wetherby were taking their skis off at their car Sunday morning when they were approached by members of the Routt County Search and Rescue team who told the pair that the team was about to go looking for them.
The Steamboat Springs men, both 42 years old, went backcountry skiing on Saturday when they got lost and were unable to return before sundown.
“We decided to do this one particular loop and made one small wrong turn and then we got back on course where we should have been and late in the day and we were too tired to head back,” Oehme said.
“We hunkered down for the night and made a fire and walked out on our own,” Oehme said.
Oehme’s wife called the Routt County Sheriff’s Department and friends to help look for her husband and Wetherby when they did not return at the scheduled time.
“I kind of expected it, so I was not surprised,” Oehme said. “Luckily, they did not have to do a full-blown search for us. I would have felt really bad.”
Wetherby and Oehme have been skiing the backcountry for almost 20 years
“This is the first time something like this has ever happened,” Oehme said.
It was about 20 degrees overnight and it was snowing, but Oehme and Wetherby had fire starters, thermal space bags and water with them.
The pair did not get much sleep as they kept the fire going.
“We basically just sat still for the night,” Oehme said.
Tim O’Brien of Routt County Search and Rescue said a team of 15 people on snowmobiles, skis and snowshoes were just starting out for the skiers when they turned up at the car.
“They got a little disoriented last night and found themselves in a bad spot and built themselves a fire and started their way out this morning,” O’Brien said. “They had a general idea of where they were, they were just not able to get out last night.”
Staff writer Felisa Cardona can be reached at 303-820-1219 or at fcardona@denverpost.com.
