[chris]

Two Salt Lake City duck hunters were rescued from the Great Salt Lake on Jan. 2, 2009, after high winds capsized their boat and left them in near freezing water for more than an hour, Utah State Parks officials said.

Jason Farr and Aaron Steinly were about a mile offshore and a mile north of the old Saltair site when 2 to 3 foot waves swamped their small boat around 12:30 p.m. Both men ended up standing in waist deep water, with the lake's temperature hovering near 32 degrees.

One of the men reached 911 on a cell phone, and dispatchers stayed on the line with him for the entire ordeal as crews worked to reach the pair. At one point, one of the men climbed onto the hull of the swamped boat to stay above the surface while they waited.

Rescue boats could not get close enough through the wind chop, so a search and rescue swimmer put on a wet suit and covered roughly a quarter mile through the frigid lake on foot and by swimming to reach the men. Crews then helped both men to shore, where a medical helicopter was waiting.

"Both were getting pretty hypothermic in the water," Great Salt Lake State Park manager Bob Rosell said afterward.

Farr and Steinly were flown to a hospital for treatment. By Friday evening, park officials said both men were in good and stable condition.