Hypothermic, frostbitten but alive. After nearly three days of searching, authorities in Eastern Oregon have found and rescued two snowmobilers who had been missing in the Wallowa Mountains since Saturday.

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According to Wallowa County Sheriff Fred Steen, On Saturday, the Sheriff’s office received a call from the wife of a snowmobiler from Enterprise reporting that her husband and a friend had failed to return from a snowmobiling trip.

Sheriff Steen said 18-year Brennan Anderson from Joseph and 52 year-old Sam Bowman from Enterprise were supposed to be back around 8:00 p.m.

The two were snowmobiling about 40 miles Southeast of Joseph at an area called Sugarloaf.

After failing to return, a search and rescue plan was put into place.

Searchers quickly learned that the two were last seen around noon on Saturday in a part of the Sugarloaf area called Clear Lake. Other Snowmobilers said they saw the two near a well known cabin eating lunch with a camp fire going.

Search and rescue crews from Wallowa and Baker County, along with local snowmobile clubs, attempted to search for the two Saturday night but the weather quickly took a turn for the worse.

The teams started searching again around 6:00 a.m. Sunday morning. They attempted to reach the cabin where the two were last seen by snowmobile but Sheriff Steen said over four feet of snow had fallen and made getting there impossible.

Another storm on Sunday night further hampered efforts to reach the cabin.

On Monday, Steen said they were able to get a break in the weather and managed to get two plane's in the air, one from the Baker County Sheriff’s Department.

The Air National Guard was also called in but before they arrived the Baker County Fixed wing spotted the 52 year-old standing near the cabin ground crews had attempted to reach waving frantically.

Rescue crews on the ground were notified and a snowcat was used to plow it's way to the cabin around 10:30 a.m.

Bowman told rescuers he and Anderson were snowmobiling within a mile of each other on Saturday when the weather moved in fast and got bad even faster.  

Bowman was able to make it to the cabin to lay low for the night but could not find 18-year-old Anderson and was virtually out of fuel.

Sheriff Steen said Bowman pointed rescuers to the area where he thought his friend might be located. Rescue crews followed Bowman's directions and found Anderson shortly after 11:00 a.m. only a mile-and-a-half from the cabin.

Rescuers found Anderson alive but suffering from severe Hypothermia and Frostbite.

The teen was in such bad shape a medical helicopter was called from Idaho to airlift him to a trauma center. The helicopter landed near the cabin but bad weather prevented it from taking off again. Steen said the medical crew from the helicopter made the decision to load Anderson into the snowcat in the hopes of getting him to a hospital quicker.

They made it down and got Anderson into an ambulance. He was transported to Baker Hospital in Baker City in serious condition.

The weather eventually cleared long enough for the pilot of the helicopter to take off and hook up with the medical crew.

The 52-year-old was cold but not injured.

Sheriff Steen said the two were very lucky there was a break in the weather which allowed them to search from the air.