Snowmobilers survive two nights in Beartooths

Town Crier “Briefs from the Region” (1) – 2/23/21

Trevor Wayne Deal, 22 of Bridger, and Maison Deacon Ostwald, 21 of Laurel went snowmobiling in the Beartooth Mountains on Feb. 18, when they became lost and were reported missing at 8 p.m. Despite a team of nearly 50 search volunteers made up of helicopters and local recreationists, Search and Rescue was unable to find the men Thursday night and called off the search at 4 a.m. Early Friday, using coordinates from one of the men’s last phone call, they were able to better locate where the men might be and found an abandoned snowmobile near Fantan Lake. They were finally located Saturday, hours before they had resigned themselves to die. “Deal commented that if not rescued in the next four to five hours, they both had resigned themselves that they were ‘going to curl up and die,’” said a Park County Sheriff’s Office press release.