Boulder Mountain, a popular snowmobiling area near Revelstoke, has been closed Sunday, Jan. 7, 2018 in support of a search for two missing Kelowna sledders.
Image Credit: FACEBOOK/Revelstoke Search and Rescue
Republished January 07, 2018 - 2:31 PM
Original Publication Date January 07, 2018 - 11:07 AM
REVELSTOKE – Two Kelowna men missing on Boulder Mountain near Revelstoke for almost 24 hours have been found.
RCMP say Andrew Macleod, 24, and Taylor Dumonceau, 24, both of Kelowna, were found at approximately 1 p.m. today, Jan. 7, by Revelstoke Search and Rescue volunteers on Boulder Mountain.
Crews used tracked UTVs to transport them off the mountain, according to an RCMP media release. The pair had spent the night on the mountain and were cold, but in overall good health.
Yesterday around 4:30 p.m. a search was launched for the men after they failed to return the sleds they had rented at the arranged time.
RCMP say their vehicle was located in the parking lot at the popular Boulder Mountain snowmobile area and the family confirmed they were missing.
Search and Rescue looked for the men for five hours yesterday and resumed the search this morning on sleds and with helicopters in tough weather conditions.
“The search for missing persons in these situations is very draining on the resources of both the Revelstoke Search and Rescue as well as the RCMP,” Kurt Grabinsky says in the release.
“A great deal of work is put into obtaining adequate information to deploy SAR, and then further work is done to gather such details as what the persons are wearing, colour of machines, helmets, equipment and training,” he says.
The men aren’t experienced snowmobilers and police were concerned they probably didn’t have the necessary equipment with them to spend a night on the mountain in freezing temperatures.
Grabinsky says with minimal information about where the men were last, crews had an entire mountain to search, adding police appreciate the efforts of the highly skilled volunteers at Revelstoke Search and Rescue.
— This story was updated at 11:50 a.m. Sunday, Jan. 7, 2018 with new information from RCMP.
— This story was updated at 2:24 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 7, 2018 to say the missing men had been found.
To contact a reporter for this story, email Howard Alexander or call 250-309-5343 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.
We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above.
News from © iNFOnews, 2018