Rescue underway for 5 overdue backpackers in Utah
Nov 25, 2013, 7:52 PM
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) – Five college students are said to be in good condition Monday after they were found stranded in the snow in the Utah wilderness.
San Juan County Sheriff’s Lt. Alan Freestone tells The Associated Press the students were found Monday in waist-deep snow near their stranded vehicle, some inside a tent. They had been due back Sunday from the trip that began last week.
Officials used snowmobiles to reach the two men and three women from Colorado College, a liberal-arts school in Colorado Springs.
Freestone says there’s no way for anyone to drive their vehicle out of the backcountry.
A medical helicopter spotted the hikers but couldn’t land because of deep snow.
Freestone says the group was found in a remote area of the Manti La Sal National Forest in San Juan County. Elevations in the area reach 8,800 feet.
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