The two men called Summit County Search and Rescue for help around 3 a.m. Wednesday after getting stuck in a steep bowl in the High Uintas on the Evanston side of the Mirror Lake Highway near Fish Lake.
According to Summit County Sheriff’s Office Public Information Officer Felicia Sotelo, they were prepared for the worst.
“They had all the equipment that’s necessary," Sotelo said.
"They had avalanche bags, a spot activator for communication, they had boots and shovels," she said. "They ended up having to build a snow cave and a fire."
She said search and rescue found the two around 9:30 a.m. Wednesday.
"They were in good condition, they didn’t need any medical care. But because of the terrain — just the steepness of the terrain and all of the snow — it took our search and rescue quite a while to get back out to them and get them back out to the trailhead.”
Seven search and rescue crew members responded to the scene, and the entire group made it down from the mountain around noon.
“They had a spot device which is an emergency communication device," Sotelo said.
"So they activated their spot device which links to a emergency contact that’s pre-identified. So that emergency contact was able to make contact with the sheriff’s office and let our search and rescue team know, 'hey we have these people out there that need some assistance, they’re stuck.'”
Sotelo said the two men, around age 30, were experienced in the backcountry. Both are Utah residents that live outside of Summit County.
She said the situation could have gone awry if the pair weren’t so prepared.
“I think it could have went a lot differently. The forest is a big place and especially with a major storm like we just had, that snow is going to eliminate a lot of tracks, things of that nature. So them being prepared really helped us help them," Sotelo said.
"I did talk to one of the gentlemen involved and he said that they try to always be prepared. He said they were aware of the storm but they had not planned on this being this long of a trip. They were going to go in the morning and planned to be back to their residence before nightfall.”
Both snowmobiles were undamaged. As of Wednesday afternoon, Sotelo said both men are safe at home.
