Two of us spent most of the nite out back of Buffalo Park in Co. My sled went thru the ice and we could not get it out--about 3:00 PM. It was snowing so hard that we could not ride two up so my patner rode up to a high point in hopes to find cell service. I climbed behind using two avy shovels for traction.
We found a dead tree and built a snow pit up wind of it. Most of my survival stuff was still on the sled and my right boot was full of water. We did get intermittent cell but our batteries were too cold to give much of a signal.
We finally got a 911 operator who was a total waste. She finally patched us through to the Grand County sheriff, gave him our GPS and waited. We built a lean too and kept feeding the dead fall into the fire---and yes, I had several tampons plus steel wool to start the fire.
Long story short, at 11:00 pm we heard some sleds and got a cell call from S&R confirming our GPS plus we gave them our FRS station. About 1:30 three guys came up the valley and we hauled my sled out of the pond. There was initially 4 of them but one got stuck and they left him.
At 2:30 we rode into the main S&R group which had about 20 sleds staged with tobogans and a first aid station. We finally got out of there at 3:30.
Our Colorado sled registrations saved us $3,500 each for the rescue.
A few things we learned:
Carry more survival items like food saver bags and socks in my back pack. Once you get wet feet, they will stay wet but you can put dry socks on in a bag to keep them from getting wet again.
Don't count on 911. I now have all the county sheriff's phone numbers in my cell phone. Not all cell phones work in the mountains.
If you think you're in danger of sinking and it feel like H20, gassssss it.
Not a total over nighter, but close
BCB
