Found Safe WY - 4 snow mobile riders, Snowy Range Area, Albany County, 22 Dec 2018

[PrairieWind]

They are out. At the parking lot safe and sound!

Rocky Mountain Sled Conditions

I bet a parking lot never liked so good!!!

 

[cybervampira]

Rocky Mountain Sled Conditions

12/26/18 600 pm .The post everyone wants! They are safe and sound in Parking lot!! Well done folks! Well done! Thank you for everyone's help!!! Brett and Cass.

 

[cybervampira]

Rocky Mountain Sled Conditions
They are safe now! Could not have done it without these find folks!
582d Helicopter Group Commander

 

[MsFacetious]

Back at the lodge having a champagne toast courtesy of the Albany Lodge. Amazing.

 

[PrairieWind]

Glad to hear this! I will stop at the Albany Lodge as soon as I can and tell them thanks for everything.

 

[PrairieWind]

Rocky Mountain Sled Conditions
They are safe now! Could not have done it without these find folks!
582d Helicopter Group Commander

I don’t have Facebook anymore so I couldn’t look at that. Was the 582nd the unit involved? That seems very odd. There is a ANG aviation unit at the same location with far superior resources.

 

[cybervampira]

I don’t have Facebook anymore so I couldn’t look at that. Was the 582nd the unit involved? That seems very odd. There is a ANG aviation unit at the same location with far superior resources.

I guess they were at least involved They just posted this picture:

582d Helicopter Group Commander

Not sure who took this, but my guess is that the skids did not reach terra firma in the LZ

They also posted this earlier:

582d Helicopter Group Commander

They are still on their way down the mountain, but the 37th Helicopter Squadron will be credited with these 4 saves by AFRCC. The crew found them above 11K msl in a location where the ground teams had not yet searched. It was an incredible team effort between air and ground. My hat is off to those who trekked in on foot to the top of S.E. Wyoming. I can’t imagine how tough the walk out was at altitude in deep snow. #ChristmasMiracle

 

[PrairieWind]

I guess they were at least involved They just posted this picture:
View attachment 161708
582d Helicopter Group Commander


They also posted this earlier:

582d Helicopter Group Commander

Thanks. So very odd. They don’t even have Blackhawks which the Army unit does have available. I’ll have to look into this back story.

 

[Elainera]

They are out. At the parking lot safe and sound!

Rocky Mountain Sled Conditions

Wonderful!!

 

[MsFacetious]

Thanks. So very odd. They don’t even have Blackhawks which the Army unit does have available. I’ll have to look into this back story.

It may have been a matter of availability on short notice? I don't know...

 

[PrairieWind]

It may have been a matter of availability on short notice? I don't know...

It is of course irrelevant to this wonderful conclusion of this story, but i am curious so I may follow up with some people I know to see how this came down.
I do hope you can keep us informed on our sledders and how they are doing.

 

[crhedBngr]

Self deleted.

 

[crhedBngr]

Glad to hear this! I will stop at the Albany Lodge as soon as I can and tell them thanks for everything.

Nice to have a local perspective! Thanks.

 

[MsFacetious]

It is of course irrelevant to this wonderful conclusion of this story, but i am curious so I may follow up with some people I know to see how this came down.
I do hope you can keep us informed on our sledders and how they are doing.

I am also curious, because I defer to you on who had the most resources! All I know is they were spotted from the air and couldn't be rescued that way. That's about the extent of my knowledge.

 

[Hazelnutty]

Thank God. We needed some good news around here .

 

[BlkMtnGirl]

Thank goodness they have been found. Usually I'm content to just be happy even if I never hear the details, but in this case I can't wait to hear what happened.

 

[The Farm]

One thing is for sure, they will all have quite the story to tell next Christmas and I bet they will be celebrating this New Year with both gratitude and thankfulness.

 

[MsFacetious]

Thank goodness they have been found. Usually I'm content to just be happy even if I never hear the details, but in this case I can't wait to hear what happened.

I can't wait either. I actually feel like these guys may save some lives. 5 nights and they don't have a scratch or a missing toe! They did everything right, (after going into the hole they got stuck in that is.)

I want to know how they managed to come out unscathed, because I want my family to do everything that they did! I also want to know what they wish they HAD done, that would have improved their situation or sped up their rescue.

I definitely think that what trapped them also helped them survive, it would have reduced the wind a little being down in that area. I'm picturing that they went down into an area which was steeper than they thought. Then when they tried to get back out it was too slippery.

For those who don't snowmobile you could compare it to trying to climb up a huge pile of loose dirt, vs climbing up an established mountain trail. If you can't get some traction you are not going anywhere. I think that's what happened.

 

[Hippononymous]

I can't wait either. I actually feel like these guys may save some lives. 5 nights and they don't have a scratch or a missing toe! They did everything right, (after going into the hole they got stuck in that is.)

I want to know how they managed to come out unscathed, because I want my family to do everything that they did! I also want to know what they wish they HAD done, that would have improved their situation or sped up their rescue.

I definitely think that what trapped them also helped them survive, it would have reduced the wind a little being down in that area. I'm picturing that they went down into an area which was steeper than they thought. Then when they tried to get back out it was too slippery.

For those who don't snowmobile you could compare it to trying to climb up a huge pile of loose dirt, vs climbing up an established mountain trail. If you can't get some traction you are not going anywhere. I think that's what happened.

I don't know anything about snowmobiling, but that's what I'm guessing happened, too. And yes, so well said--they knew what they were doing, for sure, and I hope they share their experiences. I'd also like to know if they tried to walk out at all....if they even could....if they didn't why not....So many questions. I hope they all slept well last night! They might even still be asleep, lol!

 

[zecats]

I can't wait either. I actually feel like these guys may save some lives. 5 nights and they don't have a scratch or a missing toe! They did everything right, (after going into the hole they got stuck in that is.)

I want to know how they managed to come out unscathed, because I want my family to do everything that they did! I also want to know what they wish they HAD done, that would have improved their situation or sped up their rescue.

I definitely think that what trapped them also helped them survive, it would have reduced the wind a little being down in that area. I'm picturing that they went down into an area which was steeper than they thought. Then when they tried to get back out it was too slippery.

For those who don't snowmobile you could compare it to trying to climb up a huge pile of loose dirt, vs climbing up an established mountain trail. If you can't get some traction you are not going anywhere. I think that's what happened.

Oh yes...I can relate to this. Riding on the back of a snowmobile with hubby while taking a guided ride in Vermont, they had us start out by going up a ski slope (on the side). We tipped over, of course. Ended up having to traverse the uphill diagonally. So glad these guys are safe and sound.