Two cross-country skiers rescued, hospitalized

(Update: Gifford in critical condition)

Two cross-country skiers, one with a life-threatening condition after a night in the cold, were rescued by volunteers who tracked them in the snow northwest of Tumalo Falls, Deschutes County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue reported Thursday.

Dispatchers got a broken 911 call around 5:25 p.m. Wednesday from a man who advised he was cross-country skiing on the Metolius Windigo Trail after starting out at Mt. Bachelor, Deputy Jim Whitcomb, assistant SAR coordinator.

The call was dropped after the man mentioned broken equipment, Whitcomb said. Dispatchers were able to determine the phone’s location within about 120 meters.

The call was made from a cellphone without cellular service, so the caller was able to dial 911 but not receive calls or texts, Whitcomb said. Coordinates placed the call’s location in the Happy Valley area, nearly 4 miles northwest of Tumalo Falls.

Two sheriff’s deputies and three SAR volunteers began planning the best route to reach the skier, Whitcomb said. Other volunteers were called out to join in the rescue mission.

Shortly after 8 p.m., six volunteers deployed from Dutchman Flat Sno-Park, each on a snowmobile, to the area of the coordinates, about 300 yards south of the Happy Hut shelter managed by Three Sisters Backcountry Inc.

SAR teams arrived at the hut around 9:30 p.m. and learned no one was in it, nor could they see any fresh tracks in the snow, the deputy said.

Four of the six snowmobilers deployed on skis to check the cross-county trail in both directions from where it passes by the hut.

Around 9:50 p.m., two DCSO SAR skiers found trash tracks in the snow — and around 10:15, not one but two Nordic skiers, both men, were found about a quarter-mile south of the Happy Hut shelter.

One of the skiers, Ted Gifford, 69, of Green Bay, Wisconsin, “was suffering from a life-threatening condition as a result of the temperature and snow conditions,” Whitcomb said in a news release.

The second skier, Robert Skille, 73, of Silverton, Oregon, was found in “much better condition, but still extremely cold,” the deputy said.

SAR volunteers immediately began warming efforts with Gifford and learned the two men had been on a multiday backcountry Nordic ski trip, with overnight stops planned at warming shelters in the Three Sisters area.

They began their trip on Tuesday, but were unable to find their shelter for that night, forcing them to take cover overnight in a tree well, Whitcomb said.

They also had lost one of their cellphones, leaving them with another that had “questionable service,” the deputy said. They tried several times to call out, without success, before finally getting through on the one broken 911 call.

SAR volunteers who reached the men quickly determined Gifford wouldn’t be able to move on his own and requested more volunteers respond to their location to help bring him by rescue sled to the nearest snowmobile trail. Five more volunteers went to the scene.

Gifford was taken by rescue sled about 300 yards “through deep snow and arduous conditions,” then rescuers were able to transfer him to an enclosed and heated ambulance-sled, which was taken by snowmobile back to the Mt. Bachelor parking lot, arriving around 2:30 a.m. Thursday.

Skille was able to hike to the snowmobile trail with SAR volunteers, then was taken down the mountain on a two-person snowmobile, as air ambulances were unable to fly due to weather conditions.

Bend Fire Department medics were standing by to treat the men and took them to St. Charles Bend. Gifford was in critical condition Friday at the hospital and Skille was in fair condition, a spokeswoman said.

The Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office thanked the Sisters Sno-Gopher Snowmobile Club, who had a trail groomer in the area that was able to groom the trails between Dutchman Flat through Snowmobile Trail 8 near the area of Happy Hut Shelter. “This facilitated a quicker/safer response and rescue of Gifford and Skille,” Whitcomb said.