‘They’re heroes’: Two northern Sask. men rescue stranded snowmobile rider in extreme cold

Two men in northern Saskatchewan are being celebrated as heroes after rescuing a man from freezing to death over the weekend.

George Venne Jr., 49, was last seen on his snowmobile leaving a cabin at Besnard Lake around 10 a.m. on Saturday. The temperature at nearby La Ronge was -33 C but it felt like -44 C with the wind chill.

Devin Bernatchez, a Lac La Ronge Indian Band councillor for Sucker River, answered a call from Venne’s mother around 3 p.m. She said Venne never made it to his destination at nearby Triveet Lake.

Bernatchez immediately called his brother-in-law, Trevor Ratt, and skilled trapper Jason Halkett to search for Venne where he was last seen, roughly 2 1/2 hours away by vehicle.

“Those two guys went out and they saved his life,” Bernatchez said. “The boys got there just in time because you don’t have that much time when it’s freezing like that.”

The pair began following Venne’s track around 5:45 p.m. and found his snowmobile broken down at a portage. After stopping plenty of times to clean off their visors from the building ice crystals and blowing snow, Halkett and Ratt were able to follow Venne’s track further.

Venne walked for five kilometres, some of the journey through slush and water, before finding shelter in an abandoned cabin. By the time Halkett and Ratt found him at roughly 7:45 p.m., Venne was laying on the ground unable to move in a haze of smoke after trying to start a fire.

“The boys tell me they broke a chair in there and ripped up some of the old logs on the inside of the cabin so they could get a fire going,” Bernatchez said. “His feet were soaking wet, so they were freezing.

“I guess he had been seizing up, too. Hypothermia was starting to set in on him.”

At one point, Ratt used his armpits to try to warm up Venne’s frozen feet.

Halkett and Ratt then moved Venne eight kilometres by snowmobile to a waiting ambulance after co-ordinating with Bernatchez via satellite phone.

Venne was moved to the La Ronge Health Centre, where he recovered until his temperature returned to normal. He’s now recovering at home with his family.

Bernatchez is thankful for the bravery of Ratt and Halkett, who wasted no time looking for Venne in extremely cold temperatures.

“They’re the heroes, for sure,” Bernatchez said.

— With files from 650 CKOM’s Brent Bosker