NORTH STRATFORD, N.H. — A Massachusetts man was among two snowmobilers rescued late Monday night after “becoming cold, wet, and lost on a network of ungroomed trails” near the New Hampshire-Vermont border, officials said Tuesday.
Henry Daigle, 71, of Derry, and Paul Ouellette, 70, of Plymouth, Massachusetts, were lost for several hours in the mountainous region in North Stratford, New Hampshire Fish and Game Department officials said in a statement.
At approximately 8 p.m., the department received word that the two men were lost in the area of Day Mountain.
A conservation officer got the men on the phone and learned that they were almost out of fuel, had low cell phone batteries, and were wet and cold.
Working with 911, officials learned the locations for the men and gave them directions to get out of the area.
The men tried to follow the directions but kept encountering loops and dead ends, officials said. The men had been navigating with old trail maps and had gotten off of the groomed snowmobile trails and onto ungroomed ATV trails.
By 9:30 p.m., the men were down to one cell phone, soaked from hours of heavy snow, and still stuck in the area of Day Mountain.
Officials quickly began a rescue response.
A conservation officer and Stratford Hollow Fire personnel responded to the area with a tracked utility terrain vehicle, which they used to search for the men.
Shortly after 11 p.m., rescue crews located the men approximately 4 miles into the woods from New Hampshire’s Route 3.
One of the men was treated at the scene for hypothermia and later taken by ambulance to Upper Connecticut Valley Hospital in Colebrook for further evaluation and treatment. The other was able to follow rescuers back to the road on his snowmobile, officials said.
An investigation found that the men had been attempting for 5 hours to self-rescue.
While they were wearing good gear, many hours in wind-driven snow had left them wet and chilled, officials said They had additional safety gear with them and used four space blankets to stay warm while waiting for rescuers to arrive.
State officials credited the utility terrain vehicle used by crews to rescue the men.
“Conservation Officers are very thankful that many local fire departments now have specialized off road rescue vehicles,” state officials said. “The Stratford Fire Department recently acquired their UTV and it has already been used multiple times this winter to respond to emergencies in remote areas.”
North Stratford is northwest of Mount Washington and close to the Vermont border.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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