Man who fell off Mount Princeton buys lunch for responders to 2014 accident
Brandon Simmons presents a donation to Chaffee County Search and Rescue-North during a Jan. 24 thank-you lunch at the Branding Iron. The team saved Simmons’ life after a serious fall on Mount Princeton in January 2014.
Brandon Simmons presents a donation to Chaffee County Search and Rescue-North during a Jan. 24 thank-you lunch at the Branding Iron. The team saved Simmons’ life after a serious fall on Mount Princeton in January 2014.
Posted: Wednesday, January 28, 2015 12:04 pm | Updated: 3:54 pm, Wed Jan 28, 2015
Maisie Ramsay, Times reporter
When someone’s saved your life, finding an adequate thank-you isn’t easy. Brandon Simmons found himself in just such a dilemma last January when he regained consciousness in the hospital after surviving a horrific fall on Mount Princeton. He owed his life to Chaffee County Search and Rescue-North, who launched a successful mission to save Simmons and his two hiking partners.
“My parents and I decided we needed to do something,” Simmons said. One year after the accident, Simmons got his chance. He took CCSAR-North to lunch. “I wanted to show my appreciation, in person, for the group that I’m alive for,” Simmons said.
The team filed into the Branding Iron Jan. 24, filling two tables for an afternoon lunch. As orders were taken and meals were served, the volunteers talked with Simmons about his rescue. CCSAR-North volunteer Jim Willut said the lunch was unique for the team. The organization has received donations from victims, but being treated to lunch wasn’t typical.
“Thank you from the bottom of my heart,” Simmons said. “I wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t for you guys … you guys are my heroes.” Simmons then presented the team with a $700 donation. “It’s not a huge amount, so to make it look bigger, we did this,” he joked, hoisting a huge sheet of cardboard with a check affixed to the center of it.
The pun got a laugh out of the team, who seemed to be enjoying a chance to relax outside training and missions.
In addition to lunch and the monetary donation, Simmons has also started a social media campaign to raise awareness about CORSAR cards. If a victim has a CORSAR card, volunteer search and rescue teams may be able to get reimbursed for mission costs through the Colorado Search and Rescue Fund. The Colorado Outdoor Recreation Search and Rescue card costs just $3 a year, or $12 for 5 years. Simmons had a CORSAR card at the time of the accident, but he never imagined it would serve its intended purpose. “I bought the CORSAR card just on a whim to make my friends happy, but I never thought I would need it,” he said.
The accident, rescue
Simmons had organized a January hike of Mount Princeton with two of his regular hiking partners, Krista Scott and Nicolas Dehlinger. They all had experience with winter summits, and Mount Princeton presented a relatively straightforward climb. The trouble started after they reached the mountain’s 14,204-foot summit. Instead of following the ridge, their ascent route, the team decided to descend on the standard trail. The route took them through a snow-filled couloir. As they began their traverse, the snow went from fluffy powder to hard-packed snow, “and eventually glazed ice. The last thing I remember was taking a small rest before starting again,” Simmons said. His hiking partners later told him he began sliding down the steep couloir. He was carrying an ice axe, and attempted to stop himself, but the blade wouldn’t catch. Simmons plummeted down the mountain, gaining speed with every foot. The ice axe was torn from his hand, and he was in an unstoppable plunge down the mountain. Reports at the time placed his fall around 800 feet; later calculations place the distance closer to 400 feet.
Donnie Smith was the first CCSAR-North volunteer at the scene. “It was impressive that he was actually alive,” Smith said. Simmons had sustained several serious injuries. The fall fractured his heel and left foot; tore his left meniscus; broke his seventh cervical vertebrae; and broke his nose. More serious were two skull fractures and a broken bone above his eye, injuries that caused a life-threatening subdural hematoma, bleeding in the brain.
Scott was able to get cell reception and put in a call to 911. The time was 2:35 p.m. Help was on its way.
A Flight for Life helicopter was able to land three CCSAR-North volunteers near Simmons and his hiking partners, who had climbed down the mountain to reach their friend. Smith, a paramedic by trade, worked to stabilize Simmons with help from fellow volunteers Mark Willburn and Erik Rasmussen. Using ropes and anchors, Simmons was carefully lowered over a scree field, where Flight for Life was able to retrieve him. From the time CCSAR-North was paged, it took just 4 hours to get Simmons airborne and en-route to a trauma center. “In the rescue world, that is lightning fast,” Smith said. “It was just one of those things where everything kind of aligned.”
Even though Simmons was on his way to safety, the work had just begun for Smith and the four other people still at the scene of the accident. With the helicopter gone and daylight fading fast, they still needed to get themselves off the mountain. “I was less stressed about that portion of the rescue than getting those guys out,” Smith said.
Incident commander Hans Albrecht was on the other end of the radio when he got a worrying call from the outbound group. There was an avalanche problem.
“My heart just dropped,” Albrecht said. “The Snowcat couldn’t go any further, we couldn’t get snowmobiles to them because of snow conditions. They were really on their own unless we could get a Blackhawk to hoist them out.”
The five-person group was alone, in the dark, facing possible avalanche conditions. They avoided dangerous terrain as best they could, using ropes as they carefully crossed the most risky areas. “It was one of the hairiest and most dangerous operations we did last year,” Albrecht said. The group safely reached a Snowcat on the Mount Princeton four-wheel-drive road around 1 a.m.
It wasn’t until they were back at the trailhead that Krista Scott realized the car keys were in Simmons’ pocket. CCSAR-North gave Scott and Dehlinger a lift to the Buena Vista Loaf ‘N Jug, where they scarfed down microwaved burritos, then checked them into a hotel. The next day, the pair took the Black Hills Stage Line back to Denver, all the while not knowing whether Simmons was going to survive.
Rehab and recovery
Simmons was flown to St. Anthony Summit Medical Center in Frisco, where he spent a few days in intensive care before being transferred to a general ward. Two months of rehabilitation followed.
“It was kind of like learning everything in life again. I had to learn how to walk again,” Simmons said.
Today, the only visible evidence of Simmons’ accident is a noticeable dent in his skull and a scar that curves down his left cheek. Being able to thank his rescuers in person brought “a sense of completion,” Simmons said. “It’s a little bit of closure that’s been hanging over me for a long time.”
HOW TO CONTRIBUTE
Chaffee County Search and Rescue-North is staffed entirely by volunteers, and its funding depends on private donations and expense reimbursements through the Colorado Search and Rescue Fund.
CORSAR CARD CCSAR-North can only recoup costs from the state fund if victims have a Colorado Outdoor Recreation Search and Rescue card. Those with a hunting license, fishing license or registration for a boat, snowmobile or ATV are also covered by the fund.
THE CARDS COST $3 for 1 year and $12 for 5 years. To purchase a CORSAR card online, or find a list of vendors, visit the Colorado Department of Local Affairs CORSAR site at 1.usa.gov/1zVjmud.
DIRECT DONATIONS to CCSAR-North can be submitted online at chaffeecountysarnorth.org.
