It took hours to rid an Arizona man of quicksand, then he had to face the conditions in a snowstorm

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The trial began on Saturday when the 34-year-old man and a woman he was with – also from Arizona – were hiking in Zion National Park, Utah. The man's leg got stuck in quicksand at a place about three hours walk from the start of the trail they were taking, called the subway route.

The two men tried to free the man's leg but did not succeed, so the woman left him with equipment and warm clothes. She walked for three hours until she had cell phone service to call 911.

A Zion search and rescue team began a hike to find the man and the woman, the statement said. The rangers of the national park found the woman who showed signs of hypothermia at the beginning of the trail and looked after her.

Several hours passed before the rangers could find the man described as "stable but suffering from exposure, hypothermia and extremity injuries", according to the park's services. The Utah Department of Public Safety (DPS) said that the man had been exposed to the water for 10 hours. It then took several more hours before the man's leg was released. The Rangers then warmed up and treated his leg.

But the mission was not over.

According to the park's service, winter storms in the area brought "four inches of extra snow". The rangers and the man have spent the night on the site.

A DPS helicopter from Utah was dispatched from Salt Lake City the next morning, the agency's statement said. Thunderstorms made life difficult for rescuers all morning, the statement said, but a small break in the weather this afternoon helped rescuers find the man and the rangers – as shown in a video from DPS posted on YouTube.

The man was then taken to a local hospital. According to him, CNN's subsidiary, KUTV, will be fine with the woman he was with.

What is quicksand?

Moving sands develop when saturated sand acquires the characteristics of the liquid, according to Britannica Academic. It is usually found at the mouth of large rivers, streams or even beaches where water accumulates and fills with sand.

Britannica states that even if a person or animal can get trapped in quicksand, it can not "sink under the surface" because of the body's buoyancy. However, wrestling can result in a loss of balance and a risk of drowning.

CNN's Chris Boyette contributed to this report.

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