Lost hiker is rescued

SANDPOINT — A hiker on snowshoes was rescued on Baldy Mountain early Thursday morning after losing his way in the dark the previous day, Bonner County sheriff’s officials say.

The 17-year-old from Sandpoint started a solo hike off Turtle Rock Road at about 5 p.m.

“He got caught out after dark without a flashlight and other safety gear,” said sheriff’s Sgt. Ror Lakewold.

The teen, whose name was not released, realized he was in trouble and used his cellular phone to call his parents, who alerted authorities at 8:39 p.m., Lakewold said.

A search team was mobilized and the teen was able to stay in intermittent phone contact with his

parents and searchers until his battery ran out at about 11:30 p.m. A snowmobile rescue team discovered the teen on a hillside between Baldy and Schweitzer mountains at about 2 a.m.

“He had been exposed for quite a while,” Lakewold said.

The hiker was wet and cold, but otherwise OK. The teen’s tennis shoes, jeans and light coat left him ill prepared for the hike, Lakewold said.

The rescue marked the first time in seven years that sheriff’s officials called upon the resources of Bonner County Search & Rescue. The two entities parted ways in 2002 in a dispute with former Sheriff Phil Jarvis over the volunteer group’s autonomy.

Fences were mended when Sheriff Daryl Wheeler took office earlier this year.

Lakewold said the reunification of the search-and-rescue forces went smoothly during the search.

“It worked out really well,” he said.

With a helicopter on standby at Fairchild Air Force Base in eastern Washington, the teen was found by Bonner County Search & Rescue’s high-angle snowmobile rescuers.