Submitted by Mel Rice – Public Relations
Sunday Morning at 12:15 a.m., the Beaverhead Search and Rescue was paged out to look for a
lost party in the Crystal Park area. A 53 year old gentleman and his 16 year old son had been
reported missing from a day trip to Crystal Park. The lost party is from Anaconda. The incident
actually started the day before. The reporting party called the Sheriff’s office at 7:52 p.m.
Saturday evening and reported the two individuals had not returned home. A Sheriff’s deputy
was dispatched to the Scenic By-Way from the Grasshopper end of the highway. A Highway
Patrol Trooper was also dispatched from the Wise River end. Searches at either end of the
byway did not produce the lost individuals or their vehicle.
The Dillon deputy found car tracks going around the road closure barrier just below Elkhorn Hot Springs. Upon further investigation the deputy, while following the tracks, became stuck in a snow bank. After digging for two hours and finally getting some help from one of the
Grasshopper Volunteer Firemen, he got out and returned to Dillon. At that time the
Beaverhead Search and Rescue was called out to aid in the search. Tara Remely, Alex Dunn,
Lawrence Morrisroe, and Mel Rice responded to the call out. Rice acted as the IC while Dunn,
Remely, and Morrisroe were deployed to the Scenic By-Way with a side by side and
snowmobile.
The side by side and sled ventured up the By-Way behind the closure gate. The side x side had been stuck twice and was about 300 yards short of the Price Creek Campground. They had found nothing. At that point the sled went on into Crystal Park and over to Moose Park.
Nothing was located and it was determined the Nisson car the party was driving would not have been able to make it that far. There were no tracks from a car in the area. It was also
determined a car of that nature would not have been able to advance beyond the road closure barrier on the Wise River end of the By-Way… Therefore, the S&R members terminated the search in the area and returned to Dillon, arriving back in town at 6:10 a.m. At this point the Sheriff’s office called individuals in Anaconda and was informed the individuals were home. Approximately 36 man hours were spent during the search.
"Your Beaverhead Search and Rescue would like to remind the public that the Scenic By-Way is closed to car and truck traffic until such time as the road barricades are opened. Please honor the closure until such time as it is formally opened. There is still quite a bit of snow up on top".
nice good job good luck good job