14-year-old snowmobiler survives night alone after getting lost, Utah rescuers say

When 14-year-old Mason Archibald looked around after splitting off from his friends and father on a Utah snowmobiling trip, he realized he was in trouble.

“I just went and I kind of took off, and I wasn’t really paying attention to where they were,” Mason told KSTU. “I went off too far, and I kept going straight, and I look, like, ‘Oh, no, where are they?’”

Mason could hear snowmobiles all around him as rescuers, along with his father, searched for him in the snow, he told the station. He shouted and tried to make himself more visible to no avail.

“You’re thinking, ‘What if it storms?’” he recalled to KSTU. “It felt scary, but I kept saying prayers and kept hope.”

A search began near the Utah-Idaho border at 2:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 8, involving several rescue teams and a helicopter, KUTV reported.

Rescuers received pings from Mason’s phone but could not locate him as the search stretched into the night, the station said.

A storm had moved through the area, complicating the search, and temperatures fell below zero overnight, officials told The Herald Journal.

Mason told KSTU that he spent the night curled up in the snow trying to stay warm.

Temperatures fell to minus 15 degrees in “harsh, arctic-like conditions,” KUTV reported.

Searchers found the 14-year-old at about 9 a.m. Sunday, Feb. 9, Gephardt Daily reported.

He was found near where he went missing and was evaluated for injuries, officials told the outlet.

“He appeared in what was a surprisingly good condition, after surviving a night and day in the cold, wintery conditions of the Utah and Idaho backcountry,” sheriff’s officials said, according to the outlet.

Mason was cold but otherwise in good condition, KUTV reported.

The Cache County Sheriff’s Office called the boy’s rescue “a miraculous and bright, happy outcome,” according to KTVX.

“We also encourage all snowmobilers, whenever they enter the backcountry with recreational intentions, that they take emergency preparedness equipment with them, so that in any unlikely event that they find themselves in dangerous or precarious circumstances, they are able to survive until they are found, like this strong young man until he was found,” the sheriff’s office said, according to the outlet.

This story was originally published February 11, 2025 at 4:40 PM with the headline "14-year-old snowmobiler survives night alone after getting lost, Utah rescuers say."