Chaffee County search and rescue teams and a helicopter rescued a hiker with severe injuries Thursday from above Browns Lake near Tabeguache Peak.
The hiker suffered injuries at around noon while descending a snowfield, according to a press release issued Friday by Chaffee County Search and Rescue-North, which did not identify the hiker.
Two of the hiker’s siblings hiked out to the Browns Creek trailhead and called 911 at 4 p.m.
A REACH Air Medical Services helicopter responded to the scene, but the helicopter’s crew reported the hiker was on a steep talus field and would require a technical evacuation, the release stated.
A helicopter flew three Chaffee County Search and Rescue-North members to the scene to provide medical attention and to haul the hiker 900 feet up the slope to a place where the helicopter could land.
Search and Rescue members dispatched six vehicles up Baldwin Creek to set up a radio relay and evacuate the remaining four family members and the technical team.
A team of hikers was also on standby at the Browns Creek trailhead in case weather prevented the helicopter from evacuating the injured person.
The hiker was airlifted off the mountain at 8:56 p.m., the rest of the hiker’s party joined the motorized team at Browns Lake at 9:15 p.m. and everyone involved in the rescue was out of the field by 2 a.m. Friday.
