One of the members of the 15 man office team who went on climbing Mount Shavano in Colorado lost his way when he decided to peel off from the group and subsequently fell several times on the same night in which the temperature was cold with strong winds and rains.
The hiker was part of an office getaway when he decided to summit the mountain alone, but lost his way back, triggering a massive search and rescue.
Details concerning the incident and the search operation
As outlined by the AP report, the incident took place in November 2009 on Mount Shavano which has a height of 14,231 feet 4,338 meters and is about 249km Southwest of Denver, CO 153 miles.
The group left the trailhead at sunrise on Friday as they wished to summit the mountain as part of the retreat. The man summited the peak about 11:30 A. M. However, this time presented a new challenge as he was trying to come down.
Authorities noted that the man who had left his equipment on a boulder field to help him crawl back down had picked up his belongings which contributed to the bafflement. His attempts to come down led him to a scree which is a mass of loose rock fragments.
He sent texts to his colleagues for help and they suggested he went back to the trail.
The man, in a text message shortly before 4 pm, stated that he was near the trail. Then there was a blizzard with ice rain and strong winds, which made the man disoriented and cut off his mobile phone.
Chaffee County Search and Rescue received an alert regarding the overdue hiker sometime after 9pm.
In harsh nighttime conditions including high winds and freezing rain, responders systematically searched for the man all night, but to no avail. Even a helicopter searching high and low within the areas failed.
Rescue outcome and impact
The efforts of the rescue operation did not end by the afternoon on Saturday as rescuers from almost a dozen different agencies were called for a massive operation. Unfortunately for the hiker, he had lost cell service but fortunately regained it and called Navigation assistance which arranged for his rescue by score crew as he was in a gully.
He was reported to have fallen twenty times or so while climbing the steep slopes of the MTB park which was under snowstorm. He was unable to get up anymore after the last falling down.
When the hiker was removed from the gully and given medical attention, he was taken to the hospital for additional treatment. The man is not in danger but details of his injuries and his identity were withheld from the public.
“This mountain climber got incredibly fortunate that he regained access to cell service when he did and was still aware enough seeking help by pressing 911,” search and rescue officials said. “Although first he was in a tertiary search area, eSearch teams would not have reached that location for quite some time on their own.”
