Snowmobilers who were stranded in a fierce snowstorm found shelter and fretted more for the safety of those they knew were looking for them than their own.
A group of six people from two families got lost and ran out of gas Friday night near Cumbres Pass at the Colorado-New Mexico border southwest of Alamosa.
“The snow was so bad, they had gotten disoriented with the whiteout,” said Larry Groen, father of Jason Groen, 36, one of the snowmobilers. He spoke to his son Monday shortly after the Conejos County Search and Rescue squad found the families.
They took refuge in a cabin near the isolated Osier Station in Colorado, a small wooden building that serves as a summertime stop on the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad, a tourist line.
“We just stayed in the cabin because it was safe,” Jason Groen told The Associated Press after rescuers brought the families to the top of Cumbres Pass on Monday morning.
Through Larry Groen, the family declined Denver Post requests for an interview. “They’re too tired; they just want to get some sleep,” he said.
Jason Groen is an experienced snowmobiler who had been to the area before and knew the location of the train station. The group slid open a cabin window and found popcorn, chicken bouillon, propane, a gas grill, candles and blankets when they got inside, Larry Groen said.
Wrapped in blankets with popcorn and bouillon simmering on the grill, they worried that rescuers might get hurt or become stranded.
“They did a lot of praying for the rescuers,” Larry Groen said.
Weather-dampened search
Searchers on both sides of the border hunted for them Saturday. But weather conditions and fear of avalanches along the road leading to the pass shut down the rescue effort in New Mexico on Sunday.
Colorado crews kept up the hunt in abysmal conditions, said Patrick Montoya, who led the Conejos County rescue unit.
Snow sometimes fell at a rate of 8 inches per hour, and visibility was never more than 30 feet, he said.
Rescuers ran into snowdrifts but couldn’t slow their snowmobiles for fear they would sink in the deep snow.
Groen and his wife, Shannon, had gone snowmobiling with their daughter Aspen to celebrate her 14th birthday. Also along were one of Jason Groen’s employees, Mike Martin; Martin’s wife, Missy; and the Martins’ son, Jessie, 13. All are from Farmington, N.M.
Waiting for word
Beverly Downey, Jason Groen’s mother, said waiting to find out if the families were alive was a hellish experience. In 1989, she said, another son and his 3-year-old daughter were killed in an auto accident.
“It was horrible. We had lost a son and a granddaughter in a car accident; we had been down this road before,” she said. “I was thinking about how cold they had to be. I was terrified.”
One of her most difficult moments came when she had to tell her son’s three other daughters, who were staying with her, that their parents were stranded, she said.
“I waited until (Sunday) night to tell them. I said, ‘Mom and Dad are on a mountain and it is snowing really hard and a lot of people are trying to help them.’ ”
One of the girls came to her later with tears in her eyes and said, “They’re in trouble, aren’t they?”
“Yes,” Downey replied.
Jason Groen’s cellphone didn’t work in the cabin.
He and his wife periodically climbed to higher ground to call for help. But they couldn’t get a signal and feared that if they went any farther, they might lose sight of tracks leading back to the cabin, Larry Groen said.
On Monday morning, he made a successful 911 call.
“We were en route to their location when the 911 call came in,” Montoya said. “We already had a team halfway there.”
Tom McGhee: 303-954-1671 or tmcghee@denverpost.com
