'Lost, Stuck And Stranded': Snowmobilers Rescued From -20 Degree Overnight Temps, Deep Snow

GRAND COUNTY, Colo. (CBS4) -- Three snowmobile riders were found and returned to civilization Friday in an overnight rescue operation that lasted almost 15 hours. The three young men from Minnesota were "lost, stuck and stranded" after dark northeast of Tabernash, Grand County Search and Rescue explained in a Facebook post.

The men were also separated. Two of the men were located at 2:30 a.m. Saturday near Lonesome Peak, not far from Grand County's border with the Indian Peaks Wilderness. The third was found about an hour after dawn close by, though situated 600 feet down a steep slope.

That third man was the one who called 911, according to Greg Foley, one of the GCSAR incident commanders for the operation.

"I was hoping we would be able to drive (snowmobiles) to them and pick them up," Foley told CBS4.

Instead, rescuers were forced to establish a remote staging area near Meadow Creek Lake. They started a fire there to stay warm. Members of the Grand County Sheriff's Advanced Backcountry Snowmobile Team rode in as far as possible on high-performance machines - "they're sort of like a posse," Foley said - but rescuers had to snowshoe more than a mile to finally reach the stranded members of the group.

"We're counting it as three lives saved," Foley said. "If we hadn't gone in there, would they have gotten out of there? Not with machines. And they had no snowshoes."

Current snow depth in that area is about four feet, according to Foley. But the temperatures proved most troublesome.

"It took way longer than we had hoped," he said. "Putting (rescuers) out there that long, it's hazardous. I was proud of how our team stuck with it."

Rescuers had issues with their water supply freezing, and one GCSAR member was treated for minor frostbite on his foot.

However, relief efforts were successful.

"Let me tell you the coolest thing about this," Foley added. "I was able to send full thermoses of coffee and three boxes of Girl Scout cookies into the field at 4 o'clock in the morning. It was good."

The operation ended at 10 a.m. Saturday.

Foley thanked Java Lava Cafe for providing burritos to the rescue teams when they returned, plus sheriff's office deputies who "scrounged up" the grub and delivered it.