UPDATE: Deputies have recovered two bodies from the lake. The Delta County Coroner’s office has not yet released their names.
GRAND MESA – The Delta County Sheriff’s Office is working to determine if two missing men were riding in a snowcat that appeared to fall through a frozen lake on the western slope Sunday.
Authorities said 30-year-old Ryan Wells and 30-year-old Richard Colton are missing.
Deputies received a call from the Grand Mesa Ledge Sunday that guests had missed checkout and their belongings were still in the room.
The lodge’s owner told deputies that Wells brought a privately owned snowcat to the lodge, and he asked questions about taking it out on the ice. The owner told deputies that he advised Wells against it, because of the snowcat’s weight.
A family member of one of the missing men found tracks from a snowcat that led to nearby Island Lake. The family member also found a large hole in the ice, with no signs that anyone escaped from the hole.
Delta Couty Sheriff Mark Taylor said he hasn’t been able to confirm that it was a snowcat that fell through the ice or if the missing men were inside. The Summit County Search and Rescue team contacted the Delta County Sheriff’s Office and offered to share an unmanned underwater drone to search the water.
