Search teams locate, assist stranded skiers
Members of the Lake County Search and Rescue team examine a map and plug coordinates into a GPS device to try and locate stranded skiers on Mount St. Mary's in St. Ignatius. After locating the group, the rescuers verified that they were uninjured and able to safely exit the wilderness.
Members of Tribal Fish and Game and Lake County Search and Rescue try to locate a group of stranded skiers on Mount St. Mary's in St. Ignatius. Once located, the three men were found to be uninjured.
No injuries reported in morning rescue mission.
ST. IGNATIUS - Reports of stranded backcountry skiers high in the Mission Mountains on Thursday morning prompted a massive response by local law enforcement and search and rescue teams. In the end, it was all for naught as the first rescue group contacting the three males, a Life Flight helicopter from Polson, discovered the report was erroneous and the two 40-year old men and a 16-year-old youth were uninjured.
A call came in to police around 9 a.m. on Thursday morning from a Columbia Falls man reporting he had lost contact with a group of friends he had organized to pick up at Lindbergh Lake in the Swan Valley. He reported that the group had set off from St. Mary's Lake in St. Ignatius and had planned to hike Mount St. Mary, camp for the night and then ski down into the Swan.
After missing a planned call time, the man claimed the 16-year-old had begun to "crash" physically, suffered extreme exposure, lost feeling in his extremities and was possibly nearing death.
A rescue operation was quickly cobbled together. Members of Lake and Flathead County search and rescue teams, Lake County Sheriff's Office, Tribal Police and Tribal Fish and Game assembled at the airport in St. Ignatius, where a Life Flight helicopter met the team to prepare an aerial search for the skiers. An ambulance waited at the main hangar to provide medical care and transport the victims to a local hospital.
Both St. Joseph Medical Center in Polson and St. Luke Hospital in Ronan were put on alert about the possibility of patients arriving. Using a general description of the search area provided by the caller, the helicopter quickly located tracks along a ridge on east Mt. Saint Mary's, and eventually came upon the group.
A rescue basket and portable radio were dropped to the skiers. The group then told the helicopter they were uninjured and they planned to ski down to Lake St. Mary's without further assistance from the helicopter or rescue team. They did request a ride from the lake, as they had been dropped off there on Wednesday morning to make their trip.
A rescue helicopter at Malmstrom Air Force Base was originally called to provide assistance, LCSO Deputy Ryan Funke said, but when it was verified the men were uninjured, the call was canceled.
Funke said the Life Flight helicopter is not designed to land in the snowy, cloudy conditions, and the rescue crew at Malmstrom is more experienced in rescue. Life Flight helicopters are designed to transport injury victims, but not to provide rescue.
More information will be released as it is made available.