Two men trapped on Flat Top Mountain were finally retrieved by Tooele County Search and Rescue after a nearly 12-hour operation that began Tuesday afternoon.
The pair were at the mountain peak for maintenance on a radio repeater tower that was accessed by helicopter, according to Tooele County Emergency Management Director Bucky Whitehouse. Once the pilot got the helicopter to the work site, heavy clouds prevented the helicopter from returning to the base of the mountain.
With the helicopter left stationary at the peak in below-freezing conditions, the rotors eventually froze, stranding the pilot and maintenance worker, Whitehouse said. Around 1:30 p.m., the search and rescue team was organized and plans for a rescue were developed by first responders.
Crews from search and rescue staged in Ophir Canyon, but vehicle travel was restricted by the conditions and lack of roadways to the peak, according to Tooele County Sheriff Paul Wimmer. All-terrain vehicles and snowmobiles were brought to attempt to close some of the distance, but the amount of snow limited the use of either vehicle.
A local landowner allowed the county search and rescue team to set up a base camp in a cabin on the mountainside to keep the volunteers in the area warm, Wimmer said. Rescuers were able to keep in touch with the men in the helicopter via ham radio throughout the retrieval, he said.
The snowy conditions and steep pitch of the final ascent to Flat Top Mountain required search and rescue personnel to hike three-quarters of a mile to the peak, Wimmer said. While there were boots on the ground by 4:30 p.m., a two-person crew from the search and rescue team didn’t reach the summit until about 10:30 p.m., he said.
The team that managed to reach the summit brought food, water, warm clothing and a small heat source for the helicopter. The pilot, who was 72, and the maintenance worker, who was in his 60s, had not brought sufficient warm gear and provisions for an overnight stay.
“I think 95 percent of the time, these missions go off without a hitch,” Wimmer said, of the helicopter flight to repair the tower.
Around 11:30 p.m., a second helicopter attempted to reach the stranded flight and rescuers at the peak, but was turned away by clouds, according to Wimmer.
With the steep terrain, deep snow and age of the flight crew, the search and rescue team that reached the helicopter was prepared to stay the night instead of hiking down in the dark, Wimmer said. It likely would have been a difficult descent, even at first light, since the men from the helicopter were complaining of cold feet and possible frostbite, he said.
With the rescue effort at a standstill, hiking crews from search and rescue were being recalled to try again later Wednesday morning. One of the recalled crews noticed the peak looked clear of clouds, and a final helicopter rescue attempt went up just before 1 a.m., Wimmer said.
The helicopter managed to navigate the peak and land on the final try, then ferried the rescuers and helicopter crew down the mountain in two trips. The two men were cold but in apparent good health, beside the complaint of possible frostbite, Wimmer said.