Snowmobilers rescued from mountain

By KATHY NUSSBERGER

Managing Editor

After spending the night stranded near Roman Nose in sub-freezing weather, a father and son from Hayden were rescued last Thursday morning by two helicopters from the 36th Rescue Flight Unit based at Fairchild Air Force Base.

Sean Hammond, 35, and 15-year-old Cody were located by the Air Force at an elevation of over 5,000 feet. Both were treated and released shortly after arriving in the emergency room, a Boundary Community Hospital supervisor said.

Boundary County Chief Deputy Sheriff Richard Stephens said Sean Hammond called dispatch at about 4:50 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 10, to report that he and his son had gotten their snowmobiles stuck in deep, soft snow and couldn't dig them out.

"They told dispatch they had driven off the main snowmobile routes and were approximately six miles west of Naples," Stephens said. "The two had hiked to a higher elevation to obtain cell service. We called Fairchild for rescue assistance, but due to a storm that passed to the south of us last Wednesday night, they couldn't launch their helicopters."

Boundary County Search and Rescue Leader, Don Stolley, said his team, which included Barry Pauls and Walker Mead, received notification of the rescue at about 5 p.m. Wednesday night.

"We put two snowcats up as far as they could go, but they got stuck, so we turned them around and brought them back down to the staging area at Highland Flats," Stolley said.

"At that point, the helicopter was still trying to come out of Fairchild, but they finally aborted the mission. While we waited for the snowmobiles to return, Fairchild came back on and said, 'We are going to try again,' which was great, but about 30 minutes later, they came back and said they'd had to abort the mission again."

By then it was nearly midnight, Stolley added.

"Due to the fact that we didn't have an exact location for the victims and the terrain of the area, we decided to wait until Thursday morning," Stolley said. "During the victims last contact with dispatch Wednesday night, they reported that their hands and toes were getting numb. Two local snowmobilers with high marking experience and who know the area, offered to help with the search on Thursday morning. The David Thompson SAR team from Lincoln County Montana sent eight members over to help out in case we had to do a ground rescue. We appreciate their help."

Air Force Capt. Matt Volkerding said the night crew had been launched on two different sorties Wednesday night, but the weather wouldn't let them get out.

"They notified our crew that we would have a flight first thing in the morning," Capt. Volkerding said. "On Thursday morning, we had another crew available, so we decided to send out two helicopters and grabbed our medic, Sgt. John Parish, from the Survival School at Fairchild. We launched out at around 9 a.m. Thursday morning and arrived on scene at 9:45 a.m."

The first aircraft on scene, flown by Capt. Micah West, located the victims and lowered the medic by hoist about 75-feet below the aircraft.

"Sgt. Parish determined the father's condition was more serious, so due the fact that he had to monitor the father on the flight back to the hospital, we took the kid out first," Capt. West said. "Capt. Zach Guza's aircraft came back around and picked up the dad and our medic, and flew them directly to Boundary Community Hospital. I landed at the Boundary County Airport with the kid, and he was transported to the hospital by local ambulance."

Air Force Capt. Chris Roness said the rescue was surprisingly easy.

"We are trained for exactly this type of scenario, the winds were a little squirrely, but that was the only problem," Capt. Roness explained. "The flow of information with the Boundary County Search and Rescue team and the Sheriff's office went really well. Normally, our biggest problem is that radio communications fail, but the local Sheriff's office provided us with their frequencies, command post and we are starting to sync up with their GPS coordinates. This is the first time I have been on a SAR mission where the radios didn't completely blink out."

Sgt. Parish added that if the father hadn't been as knowledgeable in survival techniques as he was, this situation could have turned into something much more serious for both of them.

"When I was put down on the ground, the father and son had apparently set up a circular snowcave where they had bound up together for the night. Although they were able to keep a fire going for a while, they ran out of fuel and suffered some cold injuries. They are very lucky considering the terrain."

Capt. Roness added that Boundary County has such a great SAR community. "They knew exactly what channels to go through to get us and having eyes in the sky makes a big difference."

The crew from Fairchild also included Senior Airman Jacob Bragg, Staff Sgt. Jamie Aulbach and Tech Sgt. Matt Ryplewsky.

Waiting at the staging area for about four hours Thursday morning, were Cody's mom Stacey Dickey, and sister Summer, as well as family friend John Foster.

"Everybody did a great job," Dickey said. "But, we are going to give them a lecture when they get home."