DENVER—One of the snowmobilers lost in the snow-covered mountains west of Denver is dead and two others were rescued late Tuesday and were flown to a hospital in Glenwood Springs.
Authorities rescued Craig Morris, of Florida, and Murry Melloni, of Littleton Tuesday night after receiving text messages from them earlier in the day. The men told rescuers John McKibben, of Kremmling, died sometime Monday night.
Summit County sheriff’s spokeswoman Paulette Horr said rescuers have suspended a search for the night, but will resume looking for McKibben’s body in the morning.
Earlier Tuesday, rescuers got the text messages snowmobilers and believed they were closing in on their location, but were having trouble deciphering the shorthand language used in the messages.
The three men failed to return Sunday night from a planned one-day trip. Friends and family members tried finding them on Monday, but authorities said they were not notified until Monday night.
Horr said about 35 people on snowmobiles and snowshoes were searching. A helicopter participated earlier in the day.
Summit County requested help from of Eagle, Lake, Routt and Grand counties and expected at least 30 more people to join the search.
Horr said the start of the search was delayed by bad weather and avalanche danger. She said three friends who were searching for the missing men got stranded at a cabin but got out late Monday night.
About 3 feet of snow has fallen in the area since Sunday morning, said Kyle Fredin of the National Weather Service.
A cold front that moved across the state Monday dropped up to 30 inches of snow in the mountains and pummeled the Denver area with winds of 25 mph and gusts up to 45 mph.
Snow began to taper off Tuesday but up to a foot more is expected before the weather clears up by the weekend, Fredin said.
The storm caused temporary closures on Interstate 70 in the mountains west of Denver, on U.S. 287 from Ted’s Place north of Fort Collins to Laramie, Wyo., and on U.S. 550 over Coal Bank, Molas, and Red Mountain passes.
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Associated Press Writer P. Solomon Banda contributed to this report.
