A 19-year-old hiker last heard from Friday and reported missing Sunday was found in a densely forested area of Glacier National Park at about 11 p.m. Tuesday when rescuers detected his heat signature and followed it to where he had slipped off a mountain trail, NBC News reported.
Matthew Read’s heat signature was picked up by a helicopter, National Park Service sources reported. Rescuers located him in a thick forest and reached him using a 175-foot hoist. They found him “somewhat responsive” according to a release from the National Park Service. They got him into the helicopter and flew him to a hospital.
The search was put together “hastily” when he was reported missing on Sunday, authorities said. By Monday, the search was expanded to about 30 people by Monday morning, including Park Rangers, Border Patrol Officials and Flathead County Sheriff’s Office, Fox News reported.
Rangers said he was in stable condition, according to NBC News. He got into trouble in the wintry conditions when he slipped into an unnamed drainage in deep snow on Huckleberry Mountain.
“He descended into chest-deep snow, losing his phone, water bottle, and shoes,” the Park Service said in a statement. He saw he could not return up to the trail so began going down, the park service said.
The Huckleberry Lookout Trail was closed during the search but reopened on Wednesday morning.
