2014 was even busier than 2013 for CCSAR-N. The year started out with two very serious winter mountaineering incidents. In January a group of three hikers were descending Mt. Princeton after a successful winter ascent. At ~12,500 feet a male hiker lost his footing and tumbled ~400 feet down a steep slope, sustaining severe head, facial and spinal injuries. A female member of the party was able to call 911 and report their location. Fortunately, the weather was clear and a Flight-for Life helicopter was able to respond. They shuttled three team members to a landing zone (LZ) ~1000 feet below the victim. The team was able to stabilize the victim and transport him to the LZ, where he was flown to Denver. They then hiked out with two other hikers, having to cross some sketchy terrain in the process. The group was transported down by snow cat. Fortunately the victim recovered after a lengthy hospital and rehab stay. In fact, in January of 2015 he sponsored a luncheon and presented CCSAR-N with a generous contribution. He used the event to promote the purchase of CORSAR cards (Colorado Outdoor Recreation Search And Rescue; http://www.9news.com/story/news/local/2015/02/02/corsar-program-helps-fund-search–rescue/22780955/). The event was covered by 9-News (http://www.9news.com/story/news/local/storytellers/2015/02/01/mount-princeton-rescue-brandon-simmons/22700975/) and the Chaffee County Times (see article below).
A second incident occurred in early May when two males ascended Mt. Huron and were skiing down. Visual conditions became flat, and one of the skiers didn’t see a cliff and skied over it, sustaining extremely serious injuries. Because of the remote location there was a long delay before his partner could summon help. A brief break in the weather allowed Flight-for-Life to fly to the location and extricate the victim. On last report he made a good recovery.
We were busy on the river, as deaths on the Arkansas were at an all-time high in 2014, with eight fatalities. One was on a commercial raft trip, and the remaining seven were private boaters. Poor decision making and/or inexperience were contributing factors to most of the incidents.
Incidents involving hikers were our largest source of missions, with 21 in 2014. We had five injured or sick hikers that needed evacuation, including a female having a severe asthma attack at 13,000’ on Mt. Yale, who needed a Flight-for-Life evacuation. Additionally, we were paged 16 times for overdue or missing hikers.
We had one difficult high-angle rescue of an individual who free-climbed the cliffs above Silver Cliff Ranch and became stranded hundreds of feet above the Ranch. The rock was unstable, increasing the risk to the rescuers. After a long night they got the subject down.
We responded to three ATV crashes, two where the victim’s injuries were severe enough that they were evacuated by helicopter. We also responded to two mountain bike crashes and helped rescue two motorists who had driven their rental SUV into deep snow in the Four Mile area and became hopelessly stuck miles from any paved road.
We just missed possible notoriety, when a member of the film crew for the Weather Channel series ‘Prospectors’ became separated from the rest of the crew for several hours on Mt. Antero. Just as we were about to deploy, the missing member reunited with his crew.
We searched for a suicidal individual who disappeared from Trout Creek Pass who has yet to be found.
CCSAR-N is in the process of being certified as an MRA (Mountain Rescue Association) team. This has involved considerable training in the areas of High Angle Rescue, Winter Rescue and Avalanche, and Wilderness Land Search. New full members are now required to be certified as Rescue Technician II, and many current members have taken the training.
