The Mounties always get their man, and that turns out to be good news for three northern Saskatchewan residents recently.
Two men, an 18-year-old and his 51-year-old father, became stranded while snowmobiling in the Wollaston Lake area Dec. 7
Wollaston Lake RCMP received a call from the younger man at about 2:30 p.m. advising he and his father snowmobiled across Wollaston Lake from Barge Landing. He said they lost their bearings while travelling and did not have an accurate idea of where they were.
Police say both were relatively unfamiliar with the area and had lived in the community for the only three months.
Their journey started on a trail and then continued in a direction they thought would return them to the community. Wind had covered their snowmobile tracks when they called the RCMP from a cell phone, which had coverage in the area. Weather conditions became increasingly poor at this time, RCMP say
The snowmobilers were able to take refuge in an area that had an outhouse and teepee. Police say they had one sleeping bag, a small amount of food and a container of milk.
A local searcher familiar with the area searched for the two but was unable to find them. The RCMP then contacted the Canadian Rangers who sent out a team of six.
At approximately 6:30 pm, the Rangers left from the RCMP detachment. The Rangers were provided with a satellite phone by the RCMP so they would have contact if needed and could advise when the two were located. The Rangers were able to successfully locate the two stranded snowmobilers and return them to safety at approximately 9:30 p.m.
The RCMP would like to publicly thank the Rangers for their assistance in locating these two snowmobilers as well as community members that assisted in identifying where the two males may have been stranded.
A week earlier, Nov. 29, Â鶹´«Ã½AVend RCMP were called in to help a 63-year-old man who had left Â鶹´«Ã½AVend Nov. 10 to go to his cabin near Trout Camp on Reindeer Lake. The man was to return to Â鶹´«Ã½AVend Nov. 14, but had not been heard from or seen since and by the time the RCMP were notified he was 17 days.
The man has medical concerns that require him to take medication on a daily basis.
He left Â鶹´«Ã½AVend Nov. 10 in his boat and did not take a snowmobile with him. The ice started to freeze shortly after his departure and he did not have any means of travel to return to Â鶹´«Ã½AVend. The ice had frozen only to the second portage, according to the RCMP, and travel to the cabin would not be safe for some time.
RCMP members from Â鶹´«Ã½AVend talked with the local Saskatchewan Environment Resource Management office and confirmed the only way to reach the man would be by helicopter. Members of the Â鶹´«Ã½AVend RCMP detachment arranged for a helicopter to travel Â鶹´«Ã½AVend and then proceed to the cabin in hopes of locating the man.
Dec. 1, members arrived at the cabin via helicopter and located the man. He had ran out of medication two days prior and was almost out of food. Members brought him back to Â鶹´«Ã½AVend and re-united him with his family. The man was located safely and he did not sustain any injuries.
The stranded man said he had attempted to walk back to Â鶹´«Ã½AVend the previous day, but returned to the cabin.
Â鶹´«Ã½AVend is located approximately 460 kilomtres north of Prince Albert, SK.
