A search and rescue effort to find a lost snowmobiler overnight on Saturday, Jan. 21 in Lolo National Forest had a happy ending, after family, friends and volunteers with the Seeley Swan Search and Rescue worked in darkness and wintry conditions to bring the woman home safe.
Missoula County Sheriff’s Office Public Information Officer Jeannette Smith said the department got a call just after 6 p.m. on Jan. 21 that there was a lost snowmobiler in the Mt. Henry area of Lolo National Forest. Seeley Swan Search and Rescue was deployed within the hour, searching the area until 3 a.m., until snowfall hampered efforts, and the search resumed at dawn. Overnight, Two Bear Air Rescue was also called on to respond.
Smith said the woman was found at 9:28 a.m. on Sunday morning by two members of the rescue team on snowmobiles, after being alerted to her location.
“She was okay, but cold,” Smith said.
The woman’s cousin, Seeley Lake woman Lynette Allen, contacted the Pathfinder last week with praise for the efforts of the volunteer rescue team. She was the last person to see her cousin, when they were snowmobiling with their husbands, and had stopped at warming huts on the backside of Mt. Henry, to wait for one of them.
Allen had left her cousin at one point to look for another member of the party at 3:30 p.m. and they lost sight of each other. Allen said they called 911 at about 5:30 p.m.
“It was a terrible experience,” Allen said, citing all the safety rules she knew as an outdoor recreationalist - “stay with your partner; have a map; always have extra supplies - and I knew we should have stayed together.” She ran gas all night for snowmobilers who were searching the area. When her cousin’s daughter received phone notification pings from her early the next morning, rescuers raced to the location of the notifications and found her.
“I just started crying,” Allen remembered when she heard her cousin was being brought out. “It was a very emotional night.”
Allen wanted to thank the Seeley Lake Search and Rescue for their work to bring her cousin home.
“They were amazing,” she said. “They just worked their grid until they called the search off at 3 a.m. [because of snow] and came back at 7. I appreciate everything they did. They are our heroes.”
Reader Comments(0)