Rescuers plucked seven stranded snowmobilers from the snowy Grand Mesa early this morning.
Eight people were trapped near Leon Lake on Saturday, according to the Mesa County Sheriff’s office.
One of the snowmobilers, Chet Smith, 35, of Grand Junction, said today that when some members became separated from the group, 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.
“I was a little scared at first but as soon as I saw a light from the moon nothing would scare me,” said Smith’s son, Brady, 9. “We knew where we were; we just couldn’t get back up from where we came so we just gathered everyone up and stayed put and got a good fire going.”
One member of the stranded party was able to free his snowmobile and called for help at about 7 p.m. Search crews spotted a fire the group made to keep warm and brought them down to a staging area by 3 a.m.
None of the snowmobilers were treated for injuries.
Also rescued were:
Jay Fellhauer, 48, of Grand Junction
Gregory Cole, 38, of Palisade
Larry Thompson, 42, of Grand Junction
Chris Gray, 36, of Grand Junction
David Hoffman, 50, of Grand Junction
Tom McGhee: (303)954-1671 or tmcghee@denverpost.com
