4 Snowmobilers missing at Jones Pass

[Aspencreek]

This pass is at the base of Berthoud Pass. I just saw the breaking news on 9news this morning. The only thing that they said is they where supposed to be back last night and there are two teenagers in the group. They also said that the conditions are getting bad. I hope that they all are alright and return safely.

Here is a link for the story on Channel 7

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/15268292/detail.html

 

[Mrs Snowrider]

I too saw it this morning. . . They should have cell phone coverage in there if they brought them. I ride in there quite often. I haven't been in there yet this year though because of the high avy danger. That area is the most problematic for avy's.

I hope they are okay!

 

[live2ride]

I sure hope all is ok, hubby said it is and can be fairly nasty there!! Thoughts and prayers are going out for a safe return!!!

 

[Colorado Diesel]

All Riders have been found. In the last few mins.

 

[4strokin]

That's way cool

Glad they were found

 

[FCR112]

Excellent!
I talked with one of Clear Creek's finest last night in the parking area as they were unloading the sno-cat. Very happy to hear everyone's outta there.

 

[MtnDoo]

Thank, God (or deity of your choice)!

Jones pass can be a snake pit.

MD.

 

[backcountryislife]

It's only a snake pit if you go cruising down a trail that you have no business going down. Those guys had crappy sleds, didn't look like they were riders at all from what I saw (we're pretty sure we saw they crew mentioned), and they went down a trail that is sidehilled in by october usually. We ocasionally go down that road but we're ready to hold a sidehill on singletrack for a ways, it's agressive.

Sunday was a nice day up there (aside from squeeking my M1k) beautiful bluebird day, it's a shame they got in a crappy spot. Glad they got them out, no good reason to stay the night when you have 4 sleds at Jones though, even the hike out from where they were would have been well under an hour.

Know your surroundings. There was no reason for this to have been a SAR issue.

 

[Colorado Diesel]

Know your surroundings. There was no reason for this to have been a SAR issue.

Ok so if you get stuck up there and you dont turn up when you are suppose to you want us to NOT CALL SAR????


Is that what YOU are saying??????????

Please tell me if this is correct or not.

 

[McLovin]

Im sorry Cdiesel but after watching the rescue just now on fox 31 news at 9 there wasnt one thank you out of any one of them let alone self acknowledgment that they were where they shouldn't have been. All they said was we where stuck in snow drifts that swallowed us up down in a creek bed/drainage-exactly what bclife described. Some folks give snowmobilers a bad rep and im afraid thats the case with this escapade.

 

[backcountryislife]

Ok so if you get stuck up there and you dont turn up when you are suppose to you want us to NOT CALL SAR????


Is that what YOU are saying??????????

Please tell me if this is correct or not.

What I AM saying is, if you are riding & get stuck somewhere that is less than a mile out from the trailhead, you should hike your *** out & come back in the daylight (with buddies that can help). I can hike UP to the main basin in less than an hour, they were 1/3-1/2 way down & needed to go DOWN, not up, this is a 1/2 hr hike, maybe 45 min-1 hr if you're a fatass, MAX.

There was no reason for SAR to have to be involved in a rescue of some guys that were less than a mile from the trailhead & were on a trial (sidehilled & barely passable on a sled, but VERY hikeable).

If I ever stay the night less than a mile from the car, I'm badly injured & yes I'd like to be rescued, but I don't ride with people that couldn't get me out of a situation like that.

I'm not trying to be a hardass, I just can't stand people that are so unaware of their surroundings that they don't realize they're that close to the parking lot & are on a very heavily traveled snowshoe trail that they could have hiked on easily. (I send the snowshoers up there almost every day I'm there).

Bad **** can happen anywhere, I've had to leave my sled on the other side of the divide a couple times up there, but I have a bro to ride out with & vice versa. If you're not aware of your surroundings you can end up being in a much worse situation than you need to be in.

This is not a cut on anyone else or any other situation, just these guys @ this place, so please don't think I'm talking sh*t about any of the other situations that have happened this year.

 

[bdubs]

I bet if BCIL goes missing at jones it was on purpose!

 

[backcountryislife]

There's a difference between "going missing" and just not coming back!!!

Hey, I told SAR to check my house & see if they were there! I figured maybe they just decided to stay!

 

[bushy]

Def. a sensitive issue, but Kaleb has a good point. You really have to question weather our "nanny" society is doing us any good in the long run.

 

[backcountryislife]

yeah, like i said, I'm not cutting on anybody else.

Just for reference, most of you guys ride RE pretty often, so...

You're on the way to the wall, N. side of 40, you take the trail that comes off the field east of muddy. You get to the "intersection" where you see the sign in front of you & there's the "no camping here" signs.. Got me so far?

So you dive about 100 yards off the trail & get stuck. Would you stay the night there? Would you wait for SAR? Or would you sack up, hike the sh*tty 100 yards to the trail & take the hour or less walk back to the truck?

This is FARTHER than these guys were from the parking lot, and it is all downhill, whereas at RE it's a flat hike.

Just trying to put it into perspective for folks that don't spend their LIFE at Jones like me! (and there's no complicated trail system, one trail, one offshoot, very simple.)

 

[duke1n]

You're on the way to the wall, N. field east of muddy. You get to the "intersection" where you see the sign in front of you & there's the "no camping here" signs.. Got me so far?

So you dive about 100 yards off the trail & get stuck. Would you stay the night there? Would you wait for SAR? Or would you sack up, hike the sh*tty 100 yards to the trail & take the hour or less walk back to the truck?

Mommyyyyyyyyyy lmao

 

[Snowmark]

yea

live and learn...hopefully...sounds like they had no map,gps or clue as to where they were....heck it's only the rocky mtns

 

[densnwbdr]

Everyone makes mistakes, Lets just hope that they learned from it!

 

[bushy]

Or, another point of view...

I gotta admit I've been a wee bit freaked a time or two when i got turned around in the dark when out hunting and looked at my compass and it was all backwards. Panic and fear are powerful forces and sometimes It probably is best to just sit and wait rather than get in deeper trouble. Turns out I was only 300 yards from camp but it could just as well have been 3 miles. Pitch black in doghair with no moon or GPS on a route I'd taken countless times before, but when I got disoriented I started to freak out for a minute or two. `Luckily I puzzled it out right and walked to camp instead of the other away.

The way that fox 31 news portrayed him was kinda low too. The other stations didn't report it that way. Fox went out of their way to make it a slam story against sledders when they should have shown more compassion for this guy and his kids that spent the night cold and skeered. Of course the guy was going to say "no big deal, just a scratch" but I'm sure he was plenty freaked a few hours earlier.

 

[03RMK800]

We are getting real close to an issue that needs some discussion. If hunters were dying and were calling SAR at the rate snowmobilers are this year, they would close the season. We (snowmobilers all) can get the public to thinking we're dumb, our sport is too great a public burden, too dangerous, etc if we keep going at this rate.

I agree that you need to know your surroundings, avoid getting into situations,, and get your self out any time you can. At the same time, call SAR when necessary.
But better yet, lets avoid the negative publicity by being prepared and avoiding the situations that get us on TV and in the newspapers!