Winter storm forces state helicopter to land at Spotted Bear

A severe winter storm forced a Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks helicopter to land Monday at the remote Spotted Bear Airstrip, and those on board ended up taking the hard way out of the backcountry.

The group included Vic Workman, a member of the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Commission, biologist Eric Wenum and pilot Randy Sindelir.

"Getting caught in that storm was really hairy," Workman said Thursday. "We were in a total white-out scenario. We got low on fuel, and we couldn't do anything but put her down."

The three were on a routine aerial elk survey in the South Fork Flathead drainage that was supposed to take half a day. On the return trip to Glacier Park International Airport, the helicopter flew into a storm near Black Bear Cabin, about 20 miles south of Spotted Bear. After several unsuccessful attempts to return to cross the Swan Mountain Range over low passes, the helicopter ran low on fuel, prompting Sindelir to land it at Spotted Bear.

But there was no shelter in the immediate area.

"We did have to walk about 4 1/2 miles up to Spotted Bear Lodge," Workman said. It was a difficult hike, because of deep snow along the way. "We were just lucky that we had satellite phones and we were dressed properly," he said. "We were also lucky that there had been a little bit of snowmobile traffic so we could kind of stay on that track."

Otherwise, it would have been a four-mile postholing march.

"There was deep, deep snow," Workman said.

The Spotted Bear Lodge is vacant during the winter, so Workman used a satellite phone to contact the lodge owners and Fish, Wildlife and Parks officials in Kalispell for help.

Helicopter fuel and food was delivered on snowmobiles Monday evening.

But the helicopter wasn't capable of flying out the next morning because of more bad weather and thick ice that had encrusted the rotors, Workman said.

Instead, the three men rode snowmobiles out on the long and winding road that skirts the west shore of Hungry Horse Reservoir.

"It was a slow and bumpy ride on the back of a snowmobile, for 2 1/2 hours or so," Workman said.

The three men got out at about 5 p.m. Tuesday.

With improved weather Wednesday, wardens and the pilot took snowmobiles back to the helicopter. Sindelir flew the helicopter out, returning it to a hangar in Missoula.

Reporter Jim Mann may be reached at 758-4407 or by e-mail at jmann@dailyinterlake.com