An injured Colorado man spent the night alone in the mountains after being abandoned by a colleague during an office break, in what rescue officials said could lead to “awkward office encounters” in the coming days and weeks.
Colorado’s Chaffee County Southern Search and Rescue Team (CCSAR-S) shared the hiker’s harrowing experience in a Facebook post earlier this week, saying they were dispatched to a report of a delayed hiker last Friday around 9 p.m. The hiker was on the standard route on Mount Shavano, a high peak in the Sawatch Range of the southern Rocky Mountains, and was dressed entirely in black.
According to a post from CCSAR-S, the hikers were part of a group of 15 people taking part in an office hiking retreat, with one group attempting to reach the summit and another climbing to the saddle and then back down.
“When the subject reached the summit at 11:30[am] “As he turned to descend, he became disoriented and realized that during his descent he had picked up belongings that had been left on the rocks by a previous group as a guide for the descent,” CCSAR-S said, adding: “During his initial descent he found himself on steep rock and scree on the northeast slope towards Shavano Lake.”
The group recorded the hiker sending a location pindrop to a colleague who had already descended, who told the hiker that he was on the wrong route and instructed him to climb the slope again to get back on the trail. At approximately 3:50 pm, the hiker sent another location pindrop to his colleague when he was nearly back on the ridge between the trailheads of Mount Shavano and Tabeguache Peak.
Shortly after the hiker transmitted his location, a storm bringing “freezing rain and high winds” hit the area, leaving the hiker disoriented again and losing cell phone signal.
After receiving an alert of the missing hiker at 9:00 PM that same day, CCSAR-S dispatched two teams and a drone pilot, working from the last point on the ridge between Mount Shavano and Mount Tabeguache, focusing on clearing the standard route to the last point, Shavano Lake, and the Squaw Creek drainage.
CCSAR-S wrote in a Facebook post that the team encountered strong winds and freezing rain that made the summiting process dangerous and even more difficult for the drone operators.
A medical evacuation helicopter also assisted the search team, saying: “Despite multiple search flights over the area,[,] “No artificial light sources other than those from the search team were found anywhere on the mountain,” the post read. The team remained on the site until 9 a.m. the following morning, but found no sign of the hikers.
A second search effort was launched that morning with the assistance of at least nine additional search and rescue groups, including from neighboring counties.
During the second search, the hiker managed to regain enough cell signal to call 911. The hiker reported that he “became very disoriented on his descent and fell at least 20 times on the steep slope below Esprit Point towards the North Fork,” adding that after his final fall, the hiker was unable to get up, but “was very fortunate to regain enough cell signal to make a call.”
Upon locating the hiker, search and rescue teams used a rope descent device to extract him from the mountain, after which search and rescue personnel stabilised and examined the hiker before transporting him to hospital for further treatment.
In a Facebook post, CCSAR-S issued a public reminder urging hikers to always hike with a partner, wear light-colored clothing and remember to pack “10 essential items in your day pack.”
They also joked in the post that the incident “may lead to some awkward encounters in the workplace in the coming days and weeks.”
According to the National Park Service, the 10 essentials are navigation, sun protection, insulation, lighting, first aid supplies, fire, repair kits and tools, nutrition, hydration, and emergency shelter.
News of the stranded hikers has sparked mixed reactions online, with some praising the search and rescue teams and others criticising the hikers’ fellow hikers.
“Great teamwork in response to non-existent teamwork! Well done,” one user wrote on Facebook, while another commented: “15 people and not a single one of them went back to help or try to stay together? Amazing.”
Others echoed similar sentiments: “So… not only did they leave him behind while they climbed to the top, but his coworker then let him summit alone and move the rock marker on the way down. Amazing. Great team building experience. Glad he’s safe. Hope he finds a new job soon.”
