Two snowmobilers are recovering from severe hypothermia in hospital after surviving a night in the bitter cold.
Lac Du Bonnet RCMP said the men were reported missing Saturday night after they didn’t return to their cabin. Police carried out a search of the cabin area.
RCMP later learned the men, both in their twenties, went out Saturday afternoon around 4 p.m. to the Anson Trail area.
One snowmobile broke down so they both got on the other one. It later went through the swamp ice near a beaver dam.
Members of the Lee River Snow Riders and Bird River and Lac Du Bonnet fire departments helped with the search to find the men, said RCMP. The two were found Sunday morning.
"Rescuers told me...hypothermia was definitely a factor," said Lee River Snow Riders Vice-President Barry Richardson.
Police said both men are now reported to be in stable condition in hospital.
One of the men had been found with bare feet.
Professor Gordon Giesbrecht at the University of Manitoba said “paradoxical undressing” is a symptom of moderate to extreme hypothermia and that very few people at that stage are found alive.
"Normally, that's the last thing they do before they die," he said. "Just before they become unconscious, we know that people tend to have this feeling of warmth flushing over their body."
Experts recommend always carrying a lighter, matches and cotton balls soaked in Vaseline to start a fire to stay warm if needed when going out on trails in the winter.
Richardson said the Lee River Trails, which includes Anson, are closed right now.
Trails won't be groomed until conditions are safe.
"We have to wait for the elements to do our work for us," said Richardson.
He said they plan to test the ice next week.
- with a report from Alesia Fieldberg
