ISLAND PARK — Rescuers retrieved a stranded Rexburg snowmobiler and fellow snowmobilers who rushed to his aid around 11:30 p.m. Monday night.
Fremont County Sheriff Len Humphries reported that rescuers found Jayce Davison around 6 p.m., thanks to a satellite beacon he carried with him.
“He was able transmit his location to his mother, and she passed that on to us,” he said.
Officials called in a helicopter to retrieve Davison, but moments before the helicopter rescue, snowmobilers in the area scooped Davison up and headed off in the wrong direction. Shortly afterward they got stuck in the snow.
“The plans that had been put in place by the on-scene command were disrupted. What should have been done by 6 p.m. took until well past midnight because of that disruption,” Humphries said.
Rescuers soon found themselves having to aid not only Davison, but those who tried to rescue him. Search and Rescue trekked across rocky terrain with snowshoes to find the men after initially snowmobiling their direction. Because of the terrain, they could only drive in so far.
“The terrain became very difficult because of the darkness. You just can't ride off (on snowmobiles). There were boulders everywhere. Our search and rescue hiked in there on snowshoes and got to them. They were able to provide snowshoes for those who couldn't ride and guided the ones out with their machines,” Humphries said.
While Humphries appreciated the snowmobilers' efforts to help Davison, he said that volunteers need to follow directions of on-scene commanders to keep everyone safe.
“Don't place other people in jeopardy. Sometimes people get frustrated because things are going too slow. There's a reason we do the things we do,” he said.
Both Fremont and Clark County sheriff's offices as well as their respective search and rescue teams started searching for Davison early Monday morning. Davison had been stranded since Sunday night.
Davison had gone snowmobiling with eight other snowmobilers on Sunday. He and Jeremy Richman, also of Rexburg, and Tyler Muir, of Rigby, decided to take a different trail back to Island Park but instead wound up in Montana near the Continental Divide.
After one of their snowmobiles broke down, Richman and Muir went searching for help. Because of the rocky terrain, only one person could ride on the machines at a time. The men built a fire for Davison and went looking for help.
Humphries said that the fire was still going when Search and Rescue got to Davison.
“He was warm. It wasn't real cold up there yesterday,” Humphries said.
Humphries said that a combined Fremont and Clark County rescue team of 30 people helped find Davison.
“Besides having people up on the trail looking, we had people manning the incident command, people running logistics and food and water — things like that. We had people who monitor the radio, help facilitate communication with people in the field and sheriff's office. There are a lot of things going on behind the scenes people don't realize,” he said.
Humphries said that no charges will be filed against anyone and says he's just glad that no one was injured.
“Everybody got out safely last night,” he said.
