Jan. 8—A New Mexico National Guard air rescue team, with the help of New Mexico State Police and other agencies, rescued three people early Sunday after they lost their way in the Sandia Mountains.

Five National Guard members rescued two men and a woman off the La Luz Trail in the Sandia Mountain Wilderness five or six miles from the base of the mountain, the Guard announced in a news release Monday.

Ground search and rescue teams from multiple agencies had hiked to the party late Saturday night and determined the woman, unable to walk, required a hoist rescue, according to the release.

The National Guard crew arrived early Sunday morning in a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter, the release says, and lowered a medic, who put the woman in a warming bag to be lifted to the helicopter. The woman was taken to University of New Mexico Hospital.

Simultaneously, New Mexico State Police had launched a helicopter to attempt a rescue, but it was unable to fly at a low enough level due to high winds, the release states.

Instead, the state police crew flew to a higher altitude and assisted in communication between the ground and the Black Hawk crew.