3 Men Rescued After a Night Stranded in the Snow

Three Ventura County men were rescued Sunday morning after snowboarding out of bounds Saturday, then using their lift tickets to start a fire to keep warm while stranded overnight.

Roy Paul Brown, 38; John Catlan, 31; and Gerald Clingan, 30, were found at 7, about 12 hours after they went snowboarding in an out-of-bounds area at Mountain High West resort in Wrightwood, said Capt. Jeff Bradford of the U.S. Forest Service.

Each man admitted to having drunk nine beers before they went snowboarding out of bounds, Bradford said. But Catlan said it was limited visibility from the snowstorm that impaired their sense of direction. “Every choice we made seemed to be wrong,” he said.

After hiking for several hours in waist-high snow, the men dug a hole at the roots of a tree and used their lift tickets and a lighter to start a fire, Catlan said. They collected firewood and huddled until morning.

“I thought that we were going to be there for a couple of days,” he said.

At daybreak, they hiked back up the mountain, Catlan said.

A sheriff’s helicopter located the men and took them to the command post at a fire station, officials said. Brown had begun to suffer hypothermia because one of his gloves had gotten wet, Bradford said.

Though Catlan said they didn’t see any barriers, resort officials said the men had to duck under ropes to get into the out-of-bounds area.

Those slopes usually do not have much snow, said Brad Wilson, general manager of Mountain High Resort, but recent storms have left more than usual and may have enticed the snowboarders.

The resort’s last search and rescue occurred three years ago, Wilson said. Jeff Thornton, 14, snowboarded out of bounds into Bear Gulch and was lost for a week as blizzards and avalanches impeded rescue efforts. He died in a hospital of infection from his injuries a week after rescuers found him.

Last week, a man, 24, was killed snowboarding when he went headfirst into the ground after taking a jump too fast.

Officials continue to stress the importance of adhering to safety rules. “In the city, if you jaywalk, somebody blows a horn,” Bradford said. “Out here, mistakes cost you your life.”