Sheriff’s office: Prepare for winter survival in the Snowies
Laramie Daily Boomerange 2-27-2011
Telling others where one is going and purchasing a personal satellite messenger are two steps a snowmobiler or skier can take to avoid becoming lost in the Snowy Range Mountains.
And, if a person does become lost, knowing winter survival techniques can save their life, the Albany County Sheriff’s Office undersheriff and his deputies said.
Since Jan. 1, the sheriff’s office has conducted 10 search-and-rescue missions, all of which have been successful, Deputy Brian Fritzen, a search-and-rescue incident commander, said.
However, some of those who were rescued were near death because of poor planning, not having the proper equipment and gear, or not possessing the knowledge needed to survive a night in the mountains, Undersheriff Rob DeBree said.
“On these searches, we’re having people that are, if not dead, seriously close to death,” he said. “One of the gentlemen that was (recently) located was ready to give up.”
Unless there are extenuating circumstances — such as someone being sick or injured or children being lost — the sheriff’s office will not conduct a search-and-rescue mission at night.
DeBree said people should plan for the worst if they get lost, which means being stuck overnight in the mountains.
High-calorie food, water, extra clothes, a snow shovel, multi-tool knife, flashlight, emergency blanket, first aid kit and waterproof matches are some of the items that can help a person get through a night in the mountains.
“You burn an amazing amount of calories in a situation like that,” Deputy Louis Cirillo said. “Plus, they don’t plan for water. If you don’t have any means to melt water, folks will eat snow, which is bad (because it reduces body temperature and causes dehydration).”
Apart from gear, knowing how to build a snow cave, start a fire and other winter survival techniques can mean the difference between life and death.
Sgt. Jeff Beeston, a search-and-rescue field unit commander, said it’s best for a snowmobiler to stick with his sled if he is lost.
“It’s easier to find a sled, especially a brightly colored sled, than it is to find a person,” he said.
Fritzen said walking after spending all night in freezing temperatures drains a person’s body of energy and heat.
In addition, lost people will sometimes walk into an area that has been searched already.
Another step a person can take to ensure their safety is to purchase a personal satellite messenger, like the SPOT Personal Tracker, Cirillo said.
“It’s relatively cheap, about $100,” he said. “You have to get a subscription. Some people balk at that, but how much is your life worth?”
Cirillo also said people who are going into the backcountry need to tell others exactly where they will be.
“Tell somebody where you’re going, when you’re coming back and what your route is,” he said. “Leave a map with your itinerary and your route with your family and friends.”
It’s also important to update your family and friends if your plans change, Cirillo said.
“If you give them all this information and then you deviate from it, what you’ve just given your family to give to us is useless,” he said.
People who have questions about outdoor winter survival can contact the Albany County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue Posse at 742-3873.
Two groups of snowmobilers found
The sheriff’s office’s latest search-and-rescue mission took place last weekend, when two separate groups of snowmobilers were lost in the Snowy Range Mountains near the Green Rock Picnic Area about 36 miles west of Laramie off Wyoming Highway 130.
The snowmobilers were found alive, but two were going through the early stages of hypothermia and reportedly wouldn’t have survived another night in the mountains.
The sheriff’s office received a call at 8:30 p.m. on Feb. 20 about two snowmobilers from Nebraska who did not return home from their trip, Fritzen said.
Another call came in at 8:42 p.m. about three snowmobilers from Colorado who were five hours overdue to return home.
Fritzen said the search-and-rescue process began by sending a patrol deputy to the area the snowmobilers were known to have been sledding to find their vehicles.
The family members and friends of the Nebraska snowmobilers did not know exactly where they had parked, he said.
“They just gave us the general area of ‘the Snowy Range,’” he said.
However, the people in the second call were able to name some of the trails the Colorado snowmobilers have sledded during past trips to the Snowy Range.
With the information from the second call, the patrol deputy was able to locate both sets of vehicles in the Green Rock Picnic Area parking lot, Fritzen said.
“From that point … we begin our initial operation,” he said.
The sheriff’s office mobilized its search-and-rescue team and contacted both the Albany County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue Posse (which is made up of civilian volunteers) and the Snowy Range Snowmobile Club.
After a mission briefing at 6 a.m. the next day, the search-and-rescue teams set out for the Green Rock Picnic Area, where they set up an incident command post.
The sheriff’s office had 24 deputies and volunteers divided into seven teams that were assigned to search specific areas near Green Rock beginning at 7 a.m.
Search-and-rescue teams from the Carbon County Sheriff’s Office joined the effort, as well as private citizens with snowmobiles who were in the area.
Beeston was in charge of a team of four that was assigned to search about 16 miles of the Green Rock trail system.
Visibility at the time was poor due to blowing snow and the temperature without the wind chill was 14 degrees.
“On days like that, you can barely see where the sun is,” he said. “You might be able to pick out some dark shapes of trees or rocks or something.”
Beeston said his team searched for more than five hours before returning to the parking lot at 12:30 p.m. to eat lunch, refuel their sleds and report to Fritzen at incident command.
Surprisingly, one of the three missing Colorado snowmobilers walked into the parking lot, followed by both of the Nebraska snowmobilers a short time later.
The three men were uninjured and in good condition after staying awake all night and walking through snow for several hours.
They each said they were lost and separated from their respective companions when the wind picked up and created a whiteout condition the day before.
With information from the Colorado man, Beeston and his team began searching again at 1 p.m. for the other two snowmobilers from Colorado.
The weather improved enough at this time for the Wyoming Civil Air Patrol to join in the search, Fritzen said.
At 3:45 p.m., Beeston’s team located one of the lost men by finding footprints leading from his crashed snowmobile.
He said the man was in the second stage of hypothermia.
“He had dug a snow shelter and he had his pack inside,” Beeston said. “He was a little bit confused, he was cold, he was tired and he was very low-energy.”
The man couldn’t identify the pack he had placed in the snow shelter and he did not know what day it was.
“He told us that he didn’t figure that he would live another night, but he was going to give it another try,” Beeston said. “He had icicles on his face. He was happy to see us.”
After evacuating the man, Beeston and his team continued searching for the last snowmobiler from Colorado. They found him a short distance away by his stuck snowmobile.
“He had gotten his snowmobile stuck and he could not restart it,” Beeston said. “He also built himself a snow shelter.”
Like his companion, the man was cold and a little confused.
“He thought it was Tuesday instead of Monday,” Beeston said.
Beeston’s team drove the man to Green Rock on the back of one of their snowmobiles.
After getting hydrated and warm, both men were treated by the Centennial Valley Volunteer Fire Department and released.
“Neither wanted to go to IMH (Ivinson Memorial Hospital),” Beeston said. “They just wanted to be back with their families.”
The sheriff’s office expects there to be more search-and-rescue missions in the Snowy Range Mountains through April, which is the peak avalanche season in Albany County.
Laramie Daily Boomerange 2-27-2011
Telling others where one is going and purchasing a personal satellite messenger are two steps a snowmobiler or skier can take to avoid becoming lost in the Snowy Range Mountains.
And, if a person does become lost, knowing winter survival techniques can save their life, the Albany County Sheriff’s Office undersheriff and his deputies said.
Since Jan. 1, the sheriff’s office has conducted 10 search-and-rescue missions, all of which have been successful, Deputy Brian Fritzen, a search-and-rescue incident commander, said.
However, some of those who were rescued were near death because of poor planning, not having the proper equipment and gear, or not possessing the knowledge needed to survive a night in the mountains, Undersheriff Rob DeBree said.
“On these searches, we’re having people that are, if not dead, seriously close to death,” he said. “One of the gentlemen that was (recently) located was ready to give up.”
Unless there are extenuating circumstances — such as someone being sick or injured or children being lost — the sheriff’s office will not conduct a search-and-rescue mission at night.
DeBree said people should plan for the worst if they get lost, which means being stuck overnight in the mountains.
High-calorie food, water, extra clothes, a snow shovel, multi-tool knife, flashlight, emergency blanket, first aid kit and waterproof matches are some of the items that can help a person get through a night in the mountains.
“You burn an amazing amount of calories in a situation like that,” Deputy Louis Cirillo said. “Plus, they don’t plan for water. If you don’t have any means to melt water, folks will eat snow, which is bad (because it reduces body temperature and causes dehydration).”
Apart from gear, knowing how to build a snow cave, start a fire and other winter survival techniques can mean the difference between life and death.
Sgt. Jeff Beeston, a search-and-rescue field unit commander, said it’s best for a snowmobiler to stick with his sled if he is lost.
“It’s easier to find a sled, especially a brightly colored sled, than it is to find a person,” he said.
Fritzen said walking after spending all night in freezing temperatures drains a person’s body of energy and heat.
In addition, lost people will sometimes walk into an area that has been searched already.
Another step a person can take to ensure their safety is to purchase a personal satellite messenger, like the SPOT Personal Tracker, Cirillo said.
“It’s relatively cheap, about $100,” he said. “You have to get a subscription. Some people balk at that, but how much is your life worth?”
Cirillo also said people who are going into the backcountry need to tell others exactly where they will be.
“Tell somebody where you’re going, when you’re coming back and what your route is,” he said. “Leave a map with your itinerary and your route with your family and friends.”
It’s also important to update your family and friends if your plans change, Cirillo said.
“If you give them all this information and then you deviate from it, what you’ve just given your family to give to us is useless,” he said.
People who have questions about outdoor winter survival can contact the Albany County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue Posse at 742-3873.
Two groups of snowmobilers found
The sheriff’s office’s latest search-and-rescue mission took place last weekend, when two separate groups of snowmobilers were lost in the Snowy Range Mountains near the Green Rock Picnic Area about 36 miles west of Laramie off Wyoming Highway 130.
The snowmobilers were found alive, but two were going through the early stages of hypothermia and reportedly wouldn’t have survived another night in the mountains.
The sheriff’s office received a call at 8:30 p.m. on Feb. 20 about two snowmobilers from Nebraska who did not return home from their trip, Fritzen said.
Another call came in at 8:42 p.m. about three snowmobilers from Colorado who were five hours overdue to return home.
Fritzen said the search-and-rescue process began by sending a patrol deputy to the area the snowmobilers were known to have been sledding to find their vehicles.
The family members and friends of the Nebraska snowmobilers did not know exactly where they had parked, he said.
“They just gave us the general area of ‘the Snowy Range,’” he said.
However, the people in the second call were able to name some of the trails the Colorado snowmobilers have sledded during past trips to the Snowy Range.
With the information from the second call, the patrol deputy was able to locate both sets of vehicles in the Green Rock Picnic Area parking lot, Fritzen said.
“From that point … we begin our initial operation,” he said.
The sheriff’s office mobilized its search-and-rescue team and contacted both the Albany County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue Posse (which is made up of civilian volunteers) and the Snowy Range Snowmobile Club.
After a mission briefing at 6 a.m. the next day, the search-and-rescue teams set out for the Green Rock Picnic Area, where they set up an incident command post.
The sheriff’s office had 24 deputies and volunteers divided into seven teams that were assigned to search specific areas near Green Rock beginning at 7 a.m.
Search-and-rescue teams from the Carbon County Sheriff’s Office joined the effort, as well as private citizens with snowmobiles who were in the area.
Beeston was in charge of a team of four that was assigned to search about 16 miles of the Green Rock trail system.
Visibility at the time was poor due to blowing snow and the temperature without the wind chill was 14 degrees.
“On days like that, you can barely see where the sun is,” he said. “You might be able to pick out some dark shapes of trees or rocks or something.”
Beeston said his team searched for more than five hours before returning to the parking lot at 12:30 p.m. to eat lunch, refuel their sleds and report to Fritzen at incident command.
Surprisingly, one of the three missing Colorado snowmobilers walked into the parking lot, followed by both of the Nebraska snowmobilers a short time later.
The three men were uninjured and in good condition after staying awake all night and walking through snow for several hours.
They each said they were lost and separated from their respective companions when the wind picked up and created a whiteout condition the day before.
With information from the Colorado man, Beeston and his team began searching again at 1 p.m. for the other two snowmobilers from Colorado.
The weather improved enough at this time for the Wyoming Civil Air Patrol to join in the search, Fritzen said.
At 3:45 p.m., Beeston’s team located one of the lost men by finding footprints leading from his crashed snowmobile.
He said the man was in the second stage of hypothermia.
“He had dug a snow shelter and he had his pack inside,” Beeston said. “He was a little bit confused, he was cold, he was tired and he was very low-energy.”
The man couldn’t identify the pack he had placed in the snow shelter and he did not know what day it was.
“He told us that he didn’t figure that he would live another night, but he was going to give it another try,” Beeston said. “He had icicles on his face. He was happy to see us.”
After evacuating the man, Beeston and his team continued searching for the last snowmobiler from Colorado. They found him a short distance away by his stuck snowmobile.
“He had gotten his snowmobile stuck and he could not restart it,” Beeston said. “He also built himself a snow shelter.”
Like his companion, the man was cold and a little confused.
“He thought it was Tuesday instead of Monday,” Beeston said.
Beeston’s team drove the man to Green Rock on the back of one of their snowmobiles.
After getting hydrated and warm, both men were treated by the Centennial Valley Volunteer Fire Department and released.
“Neither wanted to go to IMH (Ivinson Memorial Hospital),” Beeston said. “They just wanted to be back with their families.”
The sheriff’s office expects there to be more search-and-rescue missions in the Snowy Range Mountains through April, which is the peak avalanche season in Albany County.
