Posted: Feb 19, 2012 5:32 PM by Christina Lysacek
Updated: Feb 20, 2012 12:27 AM
Six hikers are safe after being trapped in the high country of the northern range of the Bridger Mountains during a snow storm overnight into early Sunday morning.
"We had a helicopter pilot come in and pick up four of the clients and he got them out, but he couldn't get the rest of them because the wind went too stupid too fast and so we were just kind of stuck going into the low line and making a fire and just trying to stay there until the wind died down and they could come get us and we ended up staying the night," said Troy Hyde, one of the rescued hikers.
The group of 10 people was at Hardscrabble filming wildlife when it began to snow. One of the people had a helicopter come to pick up four of them, but by the time the helicopter could get back to the area for the other six, the conditions were too poor to land. That is when search and rescue was called and the group began to hike down to an area near the Bridger Range ridgeline.
"There were 25 volunteers, search and rescue volunteers. We had air ambulance. We had Carisch Air Service out there. We had the U.S. Air Force," Lt. Jeff Wade said.
Search and rescue began its search on snowshoes, skis and snowmobiles, but due to spotty cell phone reception, they were not able to locate the missing party.
"Our cell phone battery was charged to begin with, but the bitter cold slows batteries up a bit at the best of times. After that thing gave up on us we were able to jerry-rig it so we had power from a camera battery," Demetri Price, one of the rescues hikers said.
Members of the group were not injured. They refused medical help. They say they started a fire right away to stay warm and had the right survival equipment with them.
"Always plan for the worst to happen, like you should have fire starting flints and things that you probably would never use, but if you have to use them, you have them," Hyde said.
The Air Force was able to spot the group just before sunrise.
"The closest they were able to land was about one-fourth of a mile away right along the ridge and the hikers actually had to hike to that helicopter to be rescued," Wade said.
Carisch Air Service and the Air Force were able to rescue the group at about 8:15 a.m. Sunday.
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