A snowmobile accident 15 miles northeast of Mancos required a cold and hazardous rescue effort by Mancos Fire and Rescue volunteers on Sunday evening.

Chief Lyle Cox said rescuers were called in around 5:30 p.m. to respond to a man with back injuries from an overturned snowmobile in the San Juan National Forest near Spencer Lake.

"It was just starting to get dark when we went in," Cox said. "It was about an hour and a half in and out."

Because of the nature of the injuries, rescuers called in Air Care from Farmington, N.M., to transport the snowmobiler rather than taking him out on a sled, Cox said.

"We didn’t have to transport him at all," Cox said. "They were able to set the helicopter right down there next to him."

Don Kirkland, 69, of Plano, Texas, was airlifted first to Mercy Medical Center and then to St. Anthony’s Hospital in Denver.

Rhonda Northcraft, nursing supervisor at Mercy, said Kirkland’s injuries required he be transferred to a hospital specializing in neuro-trauma.

"He’s very seriously injured," Northcraft said.

St. Anthony’s house manager. P.J. Curlee said Kirkland underwent surgery Monday morning and was listed in serious condition Monday afternoon.

Cox said he did not know if alcohol were a factor in the accident.

He added that whenever people are far from help, they need to take all safety precautions possible.