‘Unprepared’ hiker rescued from Colorado mountain in snowstorm wearing ‘only a cotton hoodie’
A woefully “unprepared” hiker had to be rescued from a Colorado snowstorm while trying to summit a 13,000-foot ridge while wearing nothing warmer than a hoodie — with rescuers initially mistaken them for a snow-covered rock.
The Chaffee County Search and Rescue North received a report about a hiker in distress north of Princeton Mountain as a severe snowstorm moved in early Saturday.
The hiker was “unprepared” and “out of water, with no food, wearing only a cotton hoodie and no way to warm themself,” the agency said.
“With darkness approaching and hypothermia setting in the individual decided, rather than take the same way down the best plan was to bail down an avalanche chute to try to get to a road,” rescuers reported.
While the hiker had a phone, rescue crews were unable to obtain GPS coordinates — and the hiker only knew “they were in an avalanche chute east of Cottonwood Lake.”
About 25 rescuers were sent out into the howling snowstorm to track down the stranded hiker, eventually finding footprints in around 8 inches of new snow in a gully.
“This team continued to follow the footprints until they came upon an unusual-looking rock at approximately 2 a.m.,” reported the agency.
“Upon further investigation, it was determined it was not a rock but the subject sitting upright in a fetal position covered in snow.”
The hiker was found to be alive “but very hypothermic.”
Search teams spent the next three hours warming up the hiker, before setting out on a “long, steep, arduous extraction” down the gully.
Around 5 a.m., ropes were used to lower the hiker one section at a time. More than an hour later, the hiker told the rescuers that they felt like they could help with the rescue by walking.
The hiker then walked with crew members and made it to an ambulance by 7 a.m.
There was no word on the hiker’s condition after the rescue.
Officials reminded people thinking of heading outdoors to always bring essentials with them and check the weather before going on a hike.
