MT - 2 dead in snowmobile lake-cross bid

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Two men found dead after attempting to cross frozen Montana lake (LA Times)

Two men were found dead in a Montana lake after they went missing while trying to cross a frozen section of the lake on snowmobiles, police said.

A group of five men attempted to cross Seeley Lake on Friday night after eating dinner at a local restaurant, but only two made it across the lake, Missoula County Sheriff's Department spokeswoman Paige Pavalone said Saturday. One of those two crawled back across the ice on his belly and pulled a third man, who was yelling for help, out of the water.
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more at the link above
 
MT's Seeley Lake snowmobile-treacherous just now, it sounds like:

Two snowmobilers survive avalanche near Seeley Lake (Missoulian)

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According to Missoula County sheriff's deputy Bob Parcell, the two men were caught in a slide in the North Fork Bowl area. One man's snowmobile landed on top of him, and he was "pretty shaken up." The second man was buried and was unconscious for between 10-15 minutes, but witnesses on the scene managed to dig him out and revive him.
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The incident comes a day after two snowmobilers died after trying to cross Seeley Lake on their machines and falling into the water.
more at link above
 
These always get to me. Especially since part of the group got out.
When you are part of a group like that... losing a couple riders would devastate you.
I have watched the aftermath of that and it haunts people forever.
Especially since the person in the front is generally somewhat "in charge."
So that person may have made the call to cross this lake... and they survived. That is HARD.
I don't know if they were friends or relatives but I hope the survivors are okay emotionally. :twocents:

This was simply a bad judgment call on their part - totally preventable.
Whether lack of experience, unfamiliarity with the area or just being in a hurry.
It is way too early in the season to be crossing lakes.
You don't do that until things have thoroughly frozen over.
(Unless you are one of the ones who crosses open water lakes, but that is different than this.)
We also never cross lakes in the dark just because it's too easy to be unsure of your location.

I don't know how experienced these guys were and don't want to assume.
Even experienced people can make fatal mistakes sometimes. :twocents:

Early in the season is also a great time for avalanches.
(We had 2 in our snowmobile area last week - considerable to high danger here.)
The snow pack is still being built up and is still quite unstable.
With the new snow falling, freezing, more snow on top, it's a perfect recipe for avalanches.
I'm glad that the snowmobilers were able to survive the avalanche, they are lucky.
Hopefully they will stick to less avalanche prone areas until the danger calms down a bit. :twocents:
 
That's what I keep thinking about MsFacetious.....the survivor's guilt must be tremendous and I can't even imagine how one deals with that.
 
My Uncle is kind of our groups "leader."
He still has a had time with an avalanche he survived.
Everyone got out but the what ifs drive him crazy.
It's been over a decade and he still thinks about it each ride.
I cannot even imagine him surviving if he actually LOST a rider.
He takes the responsibility of all of our lives on him personally when we ride.
I know he is a bit of an exception but I always feel for the leaders that survive. :twocents:
 
So sad, I went snowmobiling years ago up in canada, like 2 hours north of quebec, it was feb so it was very cold. In fact it was so cold like -40 in the morning we had to wait for -20 for the snowmobiles to start. The lodge we stayed at was sitting on a lake, frozen and covered in snow, yes I could not resist in going out as fast as I could, I got to 75 before I felt like I was lifting off the dang seat, then it hit me that I was in the middle of a frozen lake. I turned my skinny azz around and got back on land as fast as I could. Others were doing it as well, but I did feel dumb after cause you never know. They were even landing planes and taking off, but you never know.
 
48 year old guy. Sounds like he's been missing close to 24 hours now.
That area has had 18 inches of new snow.
He was due back at 6pm but wasn't reported till 3am. (Guessing no cell service.)
This is NOT the kind of weather you want to be lost in.
We were supposed to go today for our first real ride of the season... we are waiting till Thursday. :twocents:

Hoping this isn't anyone we know. :please:

Weather camera for the area:

http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/slc/camera/single/LoganSummit.php
 
Since we don't have a name for the missing person I'm guessing this is still the best place for this.
The snow is supposed to continue until Noon tomorrow.

This article says the friend WALKED out. If that's true I wonder why? Did he get stuck? Run out of gas?
It's totally reasonable to have run out of gas if he was driving from 6pm- 3am when he didn't plan to be.

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/...-for-missing-snowmobiler-in-Logan-Canyon.html

http://fox13now.com/2014/12/28/brea...o-stranded-man-in-logan-canyon-officials-say/

http://www.ksl.com/?sid=32905896&ni...ing-snowmobiler-in-logan-canyon&s_cid=queue-4

http://www.kutv.com/news/features/t...erway-in-Cache-County-65691.shtml#.VKCYMv97AA

http://www.sltrib.com/news/1996192-155/rescuers-trying-to-find-snowmobiler-in


I am hoping this has a happy ending like the 5 snowmobilers did last season!
That was a truly amazing story. :seeya:

https://www.facebook.com/bearlodgeresort/posts/1426986750872803:0
 
It's almost dark. :scared:
The KSL article has a comment about friends in Phoenix.
I wonder if he was from there... which would certainly limit his experience.
I really wish someone would ID him somewhere so I could eliminate the possibility that we know him!
I will be glued to this until they find him. :twocents:

http://fox13now.com/2014/12/28/brea...o-stranded-man-in-logan-canyon-officials-say/

Lt. Doyle Peck of the Cache County Sheriff’s Office said two men, ages 27 and 47, were snowmobiling in the area Saturday when the pair got separated, and one of the men did not make it back.

Lt. Mike Peterson, Cache County Sheriff’s Office, said the 27-year-old man made it back to their truck in the parking area, where he waited for his friend for several hours. The man did not have the keys to the truck, and he eventually walked from the parking area down to the canyon road, where he flagged down a motorist and had them call 911. The younger man then went back up to look for his friend.
 
“If they’re prepared for the situation, they can survive for several days; our concern is we don’t know how prepared he was … That’s another reason to find him quickly,” Peck said.
“Obviously, the longer he’s up there, the higher the risk of exposure and injury and possibly death.”

Peck said the three search-and-rescue teams will remain in the basin, but it’s “going to come to a point where we pull them out so we don’t have any injuries at night.”

http://news.hjnews.com/news/snowmob...0b.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
 
I really wish that everyone is using and carrying an avalanche search device ....

while in that alpine club were always required to use our barracks....

I hope he will be found sooner than soon..... Praying....
 
You still need an area to search in to use beacons.
That is why staying together is so important.
If he did get caught in an avalanche they have no idea where to start looking.
They are scary enough when someone sees it happen and has all the right equipment.
This situation would be horrendous... if he got caught in an avalanche they may not find him.

Hopefully he knew what he was doing and has dug himself a bit of a cave to have shelter and stay warm. :twocents:
 
I know.... Sigh.....

I just hope he didn't get injured and is able to keep himself save...

Would there be wood end trees around there to give the chance of a fire.... ?
To melt water... To build shelter.... ?
 
I know.... Sigh.....

I just hope he didn't get injured and is able to keep himself save...

Would there be wood end trees around there to give the chance of a fire.... ?
To melt water... To build shelter.... ?

ABSOLUTELY if you know what you are doing.
That why I wish they would release more information.
"This man had 30 years experience snowmobiling" would make me feel LOTS better.
"This man was visiting from Arizona and had never been snowmobiling before" would not.

You look for them differently based on their experience and knowledge as well.
If you haven't already, read this story. It was AWESOME.
I totally cried when they found them alive. :tears:

https://www.facebook.com/bearlodgeresort/posts/1426986750872803:0
 
ABSOLUTELY if you know what you are doing.
That why I wish they would release more information.
"This man had 30 years experience snowmobiling" would make me feel LOTS better.
"This man was visiting from Arizona and had never been snowmobiling before" would not.

You look for them differently based on their experience and knowledge as well.
If you haven't already, read this story. It was AWESOME.
I totally cried when they found them alive. :tears:

https://www.facebook.com/bearlodgeresort/posts/1426986750872803:0

What a nice story....

And yes you are right.... The more you know about experience the easier it is to keep up hope...

It makes me shiver to think about the weather and him being lost out there...
 
A Cache County search and rescue team will try again Monday to find a man missing near Logan Canyon as heavy snow blankets the mountains.

Lawrence Orduno, 48, and Courtney Wood, 27, started snowmobiling at about 6 p.m. Saturday
from the Franklin Basin area, near the Utah-Idaho border.
They became separated at about 10 p.m. after Wood was caught in deep snow,
Cache County Sheriff’s Lt. Doyle Peck said in a press release.
Wood is familiar with the area and searched for Orduno, who is not, but was unable to locate him.

http://www.sltrib.com/news/1996192-155/rescuers-search-for-missing-snowmobiler-in

I will watch live news at 9pm and see if they say anything.
 

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