Jan 6, 2008 6:26 pm US/Mountain
Search Resumes For 6 Missing Snowmobilers
Group Was Last Seen Friday In Cumbres Pass Area
CONEJOS COUNTY, Colo. (CBS4) ―
A search team resumed looking Sunday for six snowmobilers from New Mexico last seen on Friday, before a heavy snow storm dumped as much as three or four feet near Cumbres Pass.
Donna Oney of the Colorado State Patrol said 11 search and rescue team members and three deputies were looking for the snowmobilers.
She said two skiers had left the boundaries of the nearby Wolf Creek ski area and were missing. Wolf Creek, about 40 miles to the northwest, reported 39 inches of snow overnight.
The Web site of the ski area said the road on the east side of the 10,800-foot pass was closed and their phones were down.
The National Weather Service forecast for the Cumbres Pass area said: "Look for periods of snow...Heavy at times...To continue across the southwest and central colorado mountains along and west of the continental divide through monday. Strong winds will also accompany the snow which will cause whiteout conditions and dangerous...If not impossible...Driving conditions at times."
The Denver Post identified the snowmobilers as members of two Farmington, N.M. families. They were Jason Groen, 36, his wife, Shannon, 31, and daughter, Aspen, 14. The Post said they were snowmobiling with Mike Martin, one of Groen's employees, and his wife, Missy, and their son, Jessie, 13.
The Post said the six had visited Shannon Groen's parents in Chama, before heading off to snowmobile Friday morning. They were expected back Friday evening.
The New Mexico State Police found their abandoned vehicles and a search was launched Friday, but heavy snow has impeded the rescue effort, closing the road for a time.
Betty Groen, Jason's stepmother, in a telephone interview with The Associated Press, said her husband, Larry, Jason's father, was in Chama at the State Police office but it was snowing so hard no one could leave town to search. The New Mexico State Police said they couldn't even reach the search staging area.
She said her stepson had considerable experience and was always careful.
The six were last seen Friday just north of 10,222-foot-high Cumbres Pass near the New Mexico border. A search from the New Mexico side was called off, said Oney.
Two helicopters were waiting on the New Mexico side for the weather to clear.
(© MMIX CBS Television Stations, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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