A hiker lost his shoes in the snow near Snowbird Hut — in July

It was the Fourth of July, but up near Snowbird Hut in the Talkeetna Mountains, there was still snow — enough that a 17-year-old hiker lost his shoes in it, which left his party unable to walk out on their own.

If that sounds improbable in July, the spot explains it. Snowbird Hut sits right at the edge of the Snowbird Glacier, high in a rocky alpine bowl northeast of Hatcher Pass, and the terrain holds snow well into summer. It's a beloved backcountry destination — free, first-come-first-served, run by the American Alpine Club — but it's also a place where warm weather in the valley says nothing about conditions a couple thousand feet up. The route is famously easy to lose, too; only the first mile or so follows an actual trail.

Troopers got an SOS through the iPhone emergency relay at 6:18 p.m., though someone in the party first had to hike to a spot with cell service to explain what was going on. Troopers called in the Alaska Mountain Rescue Group, the Anchorage-based volunteer team, who found the hikers and walked them back to the parking area. No one was hurt.

The lesson is one Alaska serves up every summer: it can be shirtsleeves weather in town and still be winter in the mountains. Pack — and lace up — accordingly.