GRAND MESA — Rescuers plucked seven stranded snowmobilers from the snowy Grand Mesa early Sunday.
One of the snowmobilers, Chet Smith, 35, of Grand Junction, who was out with his 9-year-old son, Brady, said Sunday that when some members became separated from the group Saturday, the snowmobilers went looking for them.
“We couldn’t hear them or see them — we had to go find them. We searched until we saw some tracks. We followed them and found them, and we proceeded to try to get out of there,” he said.
But it was getting dark and the snow was too soft to go back the way they came, and they decided to spend the night, Smith said.
One man freed his snowmobile and called for help about 7 p.m. Saturday. Search crews spotted a fire the group made to keep warm and brought them down to a staging area by 3 a.m. Sunday.
Also rescued: Jay Fellhauer, 48, Larry Thompson, 42, Chris Gray, 36, and David Hoffman, 50, all of Grand Junction; and Gregory Cole, 38, of Palisade.
