Montezuma County Search and Rescue rescued a group of hunters who became trapped in last Friday’s snowstorm, according to Montezuma County PIO and search and rescue member Vicki Shaffer.
According to Shaffer, the six hunters from Pennsylvania had been camping at the top of Hillside Drive near Dolores for the past week when the snowstorm hit.
“When the storm came in last week, they decided that they needed to get out of there sooner rather than later, so they headed out,” Shaffer said.
While they were attempting to drive through 4 feet of snow, the lead vehicle broke down, trapping the other vehicle behind it. It took multiple calls before the hunters were able to get in contact with someone who could help them.
“They couldn’t get out,” Shaffer said. “It was kind of an interesting call, because they called family in Pennsylvania, who called a friend in Mancos, who called a coworker who she hoped would know about search and rescue and then he contacted the team. It was kind of a roundabout way of getting notified.”
The search and rescue team initially tried to ride in on ATVs and their Hummer, but couldn’t get to the hunters because of the snow. They ended up trading in their original vehicles for snowmobiles.
The rescue took all day, from around 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. The hunters went back later that weekend to retrieve their vehicles with the help of the U.S. Forest Service.
“They were very well prepared to be out there, because they’d been camping and they had a nice camp and everything; they just broke down,” Shaffer said. “I don’t think anybody was expecting 4 feet of snow.”
