Search and rescue crews located a snowmobiler Monday morning after he became stranded in a remote section of North Routt County.

The snowmobiler dropped into a drainage in an area on the northwest side of Farwell Mountain near King Solomon Falls on Sunday afternoon, according to Michael Boatwright, an incident commander for Routt County Search and Rescue.

The rider, who Boatwright said was in his 20s, quickly used a walkie-talkie to alert his three riding partners and tell them to not follow his path.

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“He maybe thought he was someplace else, and he told his riding partners not to follow him, that it was bad,” said Boatwright. “So, that was a good thing.”

The riding partners attempted to locate their friend and used their radios to communicate with him but eventually rode out of the area to call for help.

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“There is no cell coverage in this part of the world, none whatsoever, so you need to ride out basically in order to make a phone call,” Boatwright said.

Due to the time of the report, the terrain and avalanche and weather conditions, Boatwright said Routt County Search and Rescue personnel decided to respond the following morning.

The snowmobiler was prepared to start a fire and spend the night in what Boatwright described as a “very steep, dark, timbered drainage.”

“He made a fire, he was pretty well-prepared, he just made a poor decision,” the incident commander said. “I don’t want to throw anyone under the bus, but it sounded like he thought he knew where he was going but didn’t realize it until he was already down there that he had made a poor decision,”

Sixteen members of Routt County Search and Rescue responded with snowmobiles and skis to undertake the rescue mission Monday morning.

Volunteers with the North Routt Snow Riders also chipped in to groom the trails in the area to assist the rescue mission, and crews with the Department of Fire Protection and Control provided a drone to help locate the snowmobiler.

Boatwright said that the snow accumulation overnight did not completely hide the snowmobiler’s tracks and skiers with search and rescue were able to locate his sled, but the rider was not present.

“He abandoned his sled and was trying to make his way back up the hill, and you can imagine doing that in waist-deep snow without snowshoes,” Boatwright said.

“He hadn’t made it very far — it was pretty steep and challenging terrain and so the ski team went and brought him snowshoes and cleared a path for him to help get him up,” he said. “But he was young and fit and they brought up some food and water and dry gloves and extra layers to kind of get him going.”

Boatwright said the terrain combined with a thin snow cover amid a warm heating cycle created the situation where the snowmobiler could not get his sled out of the area, which he said is in a zone where even experienced riders tend to avoid.

“We have responded to King Solomon. This particular zone, you have to be a super skilled rider, but you have to have incredible personal local knowledge of that terrain in order to navigate it,” Boatwright said.

Despite the mishap, the incident commander gave credit to the snowmobiler and his riding partners for their actions.

“He had a firestarter and things like that, and he made some good decisions on not letting his crew that he was riding with come down there. That would have left three or four people stuck without the ability to ask for help because there is no cell service back there,” Boatwright said. “The takeaway is — ride in a group and have a game plan for if you need help; what does that look like, knowing where that help can be reached, and these people knew where they had to go to get cell service to get help.”