October 5, 2009 in Idaho

Resort employee rescued after day on Silver Mountain

Meghann M. Cuniff The Spokesman-Review

A Silver Mountain Resort employee was rescued after spending Sunday lost on the mountain.

Joel Kopf, 43, was taken to Kootenai Medical Center with a head wound after a Fairchild Air Force Base helicopter found him walking, disoriented, on a trail about 11:30 p.m..

The crew had earlier spotted his ATV overturned below a roadway in steep terrain.

Kopf remained at the hospital this morning in stable condition.

Kopf had left the top of the mountain, located south of Kellogg, on an ATV about 7 a.m. Sunday to set up barricades for a bike race that day.

“How long he laid there with the machine injured, we don’t know,” said sheriff’s Capt. Jeremy Groves.

When he didn’t return by the start of the race, resort employees scoured the area, then called the Shoshone County Sheriff’s Office about 1 p.m.

“It was rough on a lot of his coworkers up there,” Groves said. “The bird (helicopter) made it possible. I don’t think we would have found him last night if it wasn’t for Fairchild.”

A Med-Star helicopter also assisted in the search.