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CHAFFEE COUNTY, Colo. — A group of about 15 hikers on a work retreat left one of their coworkers to finish the final summit of Mount Shavano alone, and then the man got lost, according to Chaffee County Search and Rescue South.
13 groups assisted with the search, including El Paso County Search and Rescue, Fremont Search and Rescue, Inc., Western Mountain Rescue Team, Chaffee County Search and Rescue North, Park County Search and Rescue, Teller County Search and Rescue, Arapahoe Rescue Patrol, Inc., DFPC Cañon Helitack and Colorado Search and Rescue Association, according to Chaffee County Search and Rescue South.
“This was a huge response,” said Danny Andres, the president of Chaffee County Search and Rescue South.
The search included two helicopters, four dog teams, drones, and at least 50 search and rescue team members who were all looking for one person.
“We see it all the time of, you know, someone’s a little faster, someone’s a little slower, especially on the 14ers,” Andres said.
At one point, the hiker was able to share his location with his coworkers.
“Tthey said, ‘No, that’s a bad place to go, don’t go there, turn around, go back up the trail and, you know, continue on,’” Andres said.
A brutal storm blew the hiker even further off course and out of cell phone signal. His coworkers called search and rescue Friday night.
“At that point, we knew that we had a bigger mission because it’s a fairly large mountain and quite a few different areas that you could turn off the trail and drop into different sides and drainages,” Andres said.
A sigh of relief came the next day around 11 a.m.
“The subject got into an area where he actually got cell service and was able to turn his phone back on and call 911,” Andres said.
Search and rescue tracked him down off the trail, but close to the bottom.
“He was only about, I don’t know, 5 [hundred or] 800 vertical feet above the road,” Andres said.
Andres called the hiker’s wife to tell her her husband was found.
“It was fantastic,” Andres said. “Whenever we get that person, they’re found and they’re, you know, in good health, we’re ecstatic.”
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