Search and Rescue saves women trapped in heavy snowstorm southeast of Lincoln

Lewis and Clark County Search and Rescue got two women who were trapped in this week’s heavy snowstorm out of the mountains near Granite Peak on Saturday without injury, according to Sheriff Leo Dutton.

County emergency officials received a 911 call from a family around 9:15 p.m. on Friday saying they had two relatives — a 50-year-old woman and an 82-year-old woman — stranded near the peak between Canyon Creek and Lincoln.

The two women, from Idaho, had left on Tuesday to hike from Lincoln to Granite Peak. Dutton said they were unaware of the incoming storm and did not have connections to any satellite weather service that could have alerted them of the storm, which ended up dumping more than 3 feet of snow in the area.

Dutton said while the women wanted to get out of the situation once the snow moved in, they could not. They had some supplies and a cell phone with occasional coverage, but had to turn them off periodically to conserve the battery, Dutton said.

Family members lost two snowmobiles and a vehicle in the snow trying to rescue the two women on their own. Lewis and Clark County Search and Rescue found the two women on Saturday and had them headed out of the backcountry on Saturday afternoon.

“The other family members are also taken care of and they will make plans to get their snowmobiles and vehicles at a later time. There are no injuries reported,” Dutton said.