BILLINGS – Searchers in Carbon County have rescued four backcountry skiers who were stranded and had to spend the night in severe weather in south-central Montana.
Jon Trapp, the county’s search and rescue coordinator, says the skiers — from Canada, Italy and Idaho — used an emergency beacon at 6 p.m. Tuesday to alert authorities that they were stranded near Rimrock Lake just north of the Wyoming border.
A helicopter from Malmstrom Air Force Base was called in to help with the search, and the skiers were spotted at about 1:30 a.m. Wednesday. Trapp says a doctor was lowered to the skiers, who said they were exhausted, had depleted their food stores, but did not have any injuries.
At first light, rescuers made the six-mile trek to the group, despite 2 feet of new snow, and guided the skiers back to a trailhead.