LOGAN, Utah — Mason Archibald went out early Saturday to go snowmobiling for the first time when he became separated from his dad and friends.
“I just went and I kind of took off, and I wasn’t really paying attention to where they were,” Mason explained. “I went off too far, and I kept going straight, and I look, like, ‘Oh, no, where are they?’”
Hours went by, and as Mason heard snowmobilers all around him, he yelled for help and tried to make himself seen.
“You’re thinking, ‘What if it storms?',” he recalled. “It felt scary, but I kept saying prayers and kept hope.”
Mason spent the night trying to stay warm, curled up in the snow. Finally, after a 21-hour search, two snowmobilers found him Sunday morning.
Community members share what led up to search for missing teen:
“I ran and I jumped and gave him a hug,” said Mason of his rescue. “Since that, I just, I was really thankful.”
Mason’s mother, Mindi, knows her son wouldn’t have made it out alive if it weren’t for everyone who volunteered to help search for the teen.
“There are no words to express our gratitude,” she said Monday. “Just saw community come together, several communities, and friends and family and strangers to all to support. A child being found. And we're truly grateful for that.”
What are the essentials needed before going out to snowmobile?
Dozens of volunteers from five different counties searched miles and miles of terrain.
“I was right there above them a couple different times,” said Matt Archibald, Mason's father. “We yelled for him, we looked into trees. I felt like I was going to have a heart attack.”
Mindi had a hard time holding on to the hope that Mason would be found, but joyful when he was.
“It was the best feeling I've ever felt to know he was alive,” she said.
Despite the traumatic experience, Mason plans to go snowmobiling again but admits that he'll be better prepared next time.
“I'll definitely do it again," he said, "as long as I pay more attention.”
