Missing PA skiers found @ K!...

[emtp563]

Apparently a group of 5 skiers from Pennsylvania went missing at Killington on Sunday. I wonder if it was anyone from around here? Here is the link: http://www.wcax.com/Global/story.asp?S=2717477&nav=4QcRUPQh

 

cut and paste:

 

Mendon, Vermont - December 20, 2004

 

A group of five skiers from Pennsylvania hit the slopes at Killington Sunday, but only one came back. So by early Monday morning, Vermont search and rescue teams had set up shop.

 

"It's very difficult because it's very cold," says Vt. State Police Lt. Don Patch.

 

Temperatures didn't get above zero overnight and the young men were dressed for a day of skiing, not a night in the bitter elements.

 

"Knowing they skied off the area of Killington where everybody skies off from and ends up in the Woolerville area, that's where we concentrated efforts," says Lt. Patch.

 

Authorities say the problems started when the group went off the marked trail and into the woods. Rescue teams know this area well and issued their annual reminder to stay on the marked path.

 

"That's why they have out of bounds 'cause people have done this before and this is what happens," explains Scott Carpenter of Upper Valley Wilderness Response Team.

 

By mid-afternoon, a helicopter had located the men and search teams went in to lead them out of the woods. Some 40 people took part in the all-day effort.

 

Just before 5:00 P.M. the once lost group was found. They didn't talk about their experience as they were loaded into an ambulance. Officials say they were suffering from frostbite and were headed to the hospital.

 

With the temperatures dropping Monday night, rescuers say it's a good thing this incident didn't happen 24 hours later, or it may not have had a happy ending.

 

Caroline Allen - Channel 3 News

[sibhusky]

More info, with names:

 

Four Pennsylvania men spent a subzero night and day in the woods after getting lost outside the boundaries at Killington Resort. They were rescued after a helicopter spotted their campfire.

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"I had some Christmas cookies with me I gave them," said Game Warden Donald Isabelle, one of the first rescuers to make contact with the four missing men in the woods late Monday afternoon. "They were pretty hungry. It didn't take them long to eat."

 

 

More than three dozen rescue workers launched a search around 4:30 a.m. Monday when the four men were reported missing by another man, who told Vermont State Police his friends had skied out of bounds at Killington Ski Resort around 12:15 p.m. Sunday and never returned to their hotel room.

 

 

Searchers battled frigid temperatures and the clock Monday, combing the trails and back woods of the ski resort. They were hampered by about 4 inches of freshly fallen snow.

 

 

It wasn't until around 3 p.m. Monday that a Vermont National Guard helicopter that had recently arrived at the scene spotted a campfire and the men in the woods.

 

 

The helicopter crew directed rescue workers already in the woods to the four men, who were able to locate them and guide them out of the woods.

 

 

The four missing men and their guides emerged around 5 p.m. Monday, nearly 30 hours after they were last seen skiing out of bounds.

 

 

William Sharp, a climatologist with the National Weather Service based in Rutland, said the temperature dropped to between 20 and 25 below zero.

 

 

The lost men, all from Perkasie, Pa., included two snowboarders and two skiers.

 

 

Jared Rush, 22, and Michael Styer, 23, were the snowboarders. Jared Raytek and Thomas Arnold, both 23, were the skiers.

 

 

The men were treated by paramedics and then taken to Rutland Regional Medical Center for checkups.

 

 

Vermont State Police said they were notified at 4:30 a.m. Monday that the men were missing by their friend, Joel Barlow, 23, also of Perkasie, Pa. He told police he and his friends went skiing Sunday afternoon at the top of Killington Peak when they traveled off the trail, out of bounds.

 

 

Police said Barlow made his way to the base lodge at Rams Head and took a bus back to his Killington hotel room. Police said he awoke around 3 a.m. Monday and realized his friends were still missing and called authorities.

[insomniac]

Thats good they found them. I wonder how they made a fire?

[Justin]

Thats good they found them. I wonder how they made a fire?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

if they were riding out of bounds im sure they had to have a lighter.

[emtp563]

if they were riding out of bounds im sure they had to have a lighter.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

[insomniac]

Hahahahahah. Your probably right. I always have a lighter, just for whatever I may need it for. But I figured I was one of the few.

[AtomicSkier]

thats puzzeling, how you get lost at killington. But nonetheless, thats good they were rescued, but emtp is right, or else they could've been cigarette smokers. But they're safe, and thats good.

[skidude]

Killington has a few trails which are on the boarders of the area, and if you go outside of them, and down the hill...Well you do the math on that one. There is a tripple lift that goes parallel to the gondola, and at the top of that if you go to the skiers right (threw the woods) you see a sign that says leaving kmart, etc, etc

[AtomicSkier]

Killington has a few trails which are on the boarders of the area, and if you go outside of them, and down the hill...Well you do the math on that one.  There is a tripple lift that goes parallel to the gondola, and at the top of that if you go to the skiers right (threw the woods) you see a sign that says leaving kmart, etc, etc

 

hmm, interesting, ya think if you were lost, you just wouldn't sit there.

[skidude]

Actully, that is what survival experts tell you to do...Stay in the same place, try to make a camp if you can. I guess it makes sence, if they were running around and the rescue team was trying to find them, it could get a lot harder

[Sno Mountain Skier]

i dont know if it the same story but i heard on newschoolers yesterday that they were skiing down the backside of the mountain.