In October 2021, Snohomish County SAR received notification of an SOS from an emergency satellite locator beacon at 6,800 feet, just below the summit of Three Fingers Mountain. Two experienced and well-equipped hikers were stranded by a weather system that had moved in rapidly, covering their retreat route with ice and snow. Due to the extreme conditions and cold temperatures, an immediate rescue mission was initiated even though darkness had already fallen.

Everett Mountain Rescue, Seattle Mountain Rescue, Olympic Mountain Rescue, Snohomish County Helicopter Rescue Team, and other volunteers from Snohomish County Search and Rescue formed a collaborative effort to achieve a difficult rescue.

Planners mapped the SOS coordinates, while ground teams were transported into the area by all-terrain vehicles and inserted by helicopter until the weather became unsafe for flying. Throughout the night, search managers monitored the position of search teams as they hiked for miles over snow-covered terrain to reach the stranded hikers. Mountain rescue teams used ropes and anchors to safely move the hikers down through steep icy terrain, and then escorted them back to the trailhead. Almost 24 hours after the mission started, all were brought back safely to search base with no injuries.

In March of 2022, at the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office Awards Ceremony, all SAR volunteers who supported this mission (including Guy) were presented with letters of commendation. When interviewed about this, Guy maintained that the real heroes were the mountain rescue teams that were sent up on the mountain. He did accept credit for accurately plotting the SOS coordinates and managing team assignments, but suspects that the real reason for his commendation was that he shuttled rescuers up the eight-mile “pothole road from hell” multiple times during the night, and (more importantly) treated all volunteers (and rescued hikers) to hot breakfast sandwiches and coffee as they returned to search base.