It was a bitterly cold night in northern Saskatchewan when five snowmobilers became stranded in a remote area near Clam Lake, about 70 kilometres northwest of La Ronge. RCMP received the call about 8:30 Saturday morning that the group had become stuck in some muskeg, and had spent the night in the cold.

Corporal Shane Marion of the La Ronge RCMP says, “It was a life-threatening situation. The temperatures had dropped to -35 or -40.” She notes the five had winter gear on and a fire going, but one of them had gotten wet from the muskeg and was extremely cold.

The snowmobilers’ family, the Canadian Rangers and the RCMP headed out to the area and were successful in finding them. The snowmobilers were assessed by EMS were cleared to head home.

Corporal Marion says an important resource in critical situations in remote areas is community knowledge. Long-time community members have a better knowledge of the area and the Canadian Rangers have both the local knowledge and the wilderness search-and-rescue training.
She thanks the family and the Canadian Rangers for helping get these five snowmobilers back to safety.