Utah State Park Ranger Pulls Off Two Lifesaving Rescues In 24 Hours
Jan 26, 2021, 6:00 PM | Updated: 9:00 pm
WEBER COUNTY, Utah – Fresh snow always brings more people out to play, and last weekend’s fresh powder caused a busy weekend of snowmobile rescues for one state park ranger in northern Utah.
Winter fun in Utah is more than just skiing and snowboarding.
All it takes is a trip to the Monte Cristo area of Weber County after a fresh snowstorm, especially on weekends.
Where the road ends at Monte Cristo is where winter fun begins for a lot of people. This past weekend, though, it’s also where @UtahStateParks rangers were busy on several search and rescues. We’re doing a story with a ranger involved with those calls for @KSL5TV at 6 #ksltv pic.twitter.com/dRcYXlWL4g
— Alex Cabrero (@KSL_AlexCabrero) January 26, 2021
It’s one of the best places in the state to snowmobile.
“There are trails all over,” said Ben Meraz. “I love it. It’s awesome.”
Unlike most riders though, Meraz gets paid to snowmobile the area. He’s a ranger with Utah State Parks.
“We’re almost always up here riding on the weekends and helping people out. It’s great,” he said.
Having snowy mountain backdrops and freshly flocked trees as your office is a job many people would like. But sometimes, it gets so busy you don’t even see the views.
“Every now and then, people do need help up here,” said Meraz. This past Saturday was one example.
Meraz and two other rangers were told by snowmobilers their friends were in a bad crash off Curtis Creek Trail.
Utah State Park ranger Ben Meraz. (Stuart Johnson/KSL-TV)
“They had rented one of those double machines and were riding along,” said Meraz. “The trail up there is very narrow and alongside there are trees. With whiteout conditions and the fog, low light, it makes it really hard to see. If you’re going pretty fast down the trail, you can easily swerve off trail a little bit and just hit a tree, like they did.”
Meraz knew it was bad as soon as he arrived and saw what had happened.
“They were kind of just laying in the snow, not moving,” he said.
The husband and wife were alert and responding to commands, though.
Since the paved road leading to nearby Monte Cristo campground was closed for winter, Meraz knew an ambulance couldn’t get to them.
Park ranger Ben Meraz said the Monte Cristo area in Weber County has some of the best snowmobiling trails. (Stuart Johnson/KSL-TV)
He started a campfire to keep the two warm until other rangers brought paramedics to the spot.
“It seemed like a back injury or something. In that case, we don’t really want to move them,” said Meraz.
When paramedics arrived, they determined they could safely put the man with the back injury on a backboard and take him out in a snowcat to where an ambulance was waiting.
His wife had an ankle injury and was taken out on a snowmobile.
A spokesperson with Utah State Parks said both victims were doing better Tuesday.
“We were happy to help them. You never know what it can become,” said Meraz.
That wasn’t the only search and rescue he was involved in this past weekend.
On Sunday, Meraz was flagged down by some snowmobilers who told him their friend was in the area snowmobiling in the backcountry and they couldn’t find him.
“We knew we had to act on this one right away,” said Meraz. “We were almost off, but it didn’t matter. These people may be lost for who knows how long, and then it becomes a matter of trying to survive the elements.”
Meraz and another ranger found the man far away stuck in a ravine.
He wasn’t prepared to spend the night. Meraz and the ranger dug him out and got him safely back to the trailhead.
It was another save on another busy weekend.
“We don’t do it for the spotlight or anything,” said Meraz. “We just do it to help people out.”
