It was a Tuesday night and I had just gotten home from the gym at 7:30 and was about to get something to eat when I noticed the answering machine blinking. There was the sad voice of a young lady asking me to help her search for her lost engagement ring. I called Jamie back and we had a brief conversation, she believed that her engagement ring was lost while changing out of her ski bibs in the parking lot of a “nearby” ski area. I had Jamie call the ski area to inquire about doing a search. While Jamie was making her call I quickly made a sandwich and ate. Jamie called back after several minutes stating that she couldn’t get ahold of the ski area as it had been closed for several hours by then.
The weather that night was a bit brisk; at my home the thermometer read 1 degree above 0 and it was snowing. I knew that going up to a ski area the temperature would be even colder so I needed to change. By the time I changed my clothes, gathered my gear and loaded my truck it was now 9:00 PM. The ski area that was my destination was an hour’s drive in good weather, but I still made drive in an hour and 15 minutes.
Upon arrival I checked my trucks thermometer prior to stepping out, it read -17. WOW, my coldest search yet. Luckily there was only a slight breeze so with wind chill it had to be around -20 to -25 degrees. Jamie, Mike (Jamie’s other half) and I talked about the location of their car during the ring’s loss. While marking out the search area in the fresh snow a guy in a front end loader who was clearing the snow form the parking lots stopped by to see what we were up to. Upon hearing that Jamie lost her ring and that I was there to search for it he raised his eyebrows and said “Good luck” then he continued on his with his business.
I began my search on the east end of our search area, after a half hours search my XLT’s screen had become very sluggish and pretty much useless. I typically detect by tone anyway so the lack of VDI was not a big deal. Another 5 – 10 minutes later I heard that wonderful tone and I scraped the top layer of snow away. The signal moved so I broke out my pinpoint probe and zeroed in on the target. When I brushed some more snow away there was Jamie’s ring, I must say her ring is quite exquisite. Jamie and Mike were so excited to get her ring back. I received a bone crushing hug and a good hearty hand shack and then we proceeded to get some photos.
Jamie and Mike live in Texas and were heading back home in just over 24 hours. I am sure that they will have some good things to say about us Coloradoans, metal detectorists and The Ring Finders.
Ring recovered February 4th, 2014.
Cold but happy
Jamie’s engagement ring
4 Replies to “Engagement ring recovered from Eldora Ski Area parking lot”
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Ice Cold Gold! Nice find and just in time before they left for home…Great work! Best, Chris
I like that “Ice Cold Gold”.
Thanks!!
Dark, snowing, and -17 degrees? Now that’s dedication folks! I though going into 50 degree surf was tough but at least my machine didn’t freeze up! Good Job!
Thanks Mark, we each have our own battles when it comes to weather. This was as extreme as it gets here in Colorado. I didn’t have 4′ waves crashing down on me and shoving me around.
My hands were numb less than 20 minutes into this search, and I was wearing new gloves. And by the end I had ice cycles hanging from my facial hair. But I still managed to do a hockey neal down and fist pump when I found the ring. I thought it was appropriate considering the circumstances.
I didn’t get to bed till after 1:00AM, when my alarm rang at 5:30AM I wasn’t looking forward to going to work.