Rescue on Mt Princeton

[BrodyMac_99]

https://www.cbsnews.com/colorado/news/c ... princeton/

Nothing but a hoodie . Glad he’s ok

[globreal]

Had it not been for the heroic efforts of CCSAR, who located his footprints, and then descended down the avalanche chute to find him in the middle of the night, he would not have survived the night. This was truly a miraculous rescue!

Praises to the sacrificial efforts of these Search and Rescue members!

[Trotter]

Had it not been for the heroic efforts of CCSAR, who located his footprints, and then descended down the avalanche chute to find him in the middle of the night, he would not have survived the night. This was truly a miraculous rescue!

Praises to the sacrificial efforts of these Search and Rescue members!

+1

And let this also be a lesson to people going out unprepared to hike deadly mountains.

[justiner]

Poor one out for this cat, it's lost at least one of its lives.

Classic, "series of small mistakes compound into an emergency situation". I'm glad everyone got out of this safe, including SAR. Tis the season to remember that Summer and Winter are very different out there.

Be safe everyone.

[two lunches]

thank you Chaffee County SAR!!

[ECF55]

Oomph. Non-non-standard route solo with a cotton hoodie. Brutal.

"It took over three hours to warm the hiker. The extraction process began around 5:00 a.m., according to the rescue team."

Standard procedure is warm up the hypothermic individual before extraction? I assume this is to (a) make sure the individual actually survives and (b) the terrain was very challenging in those snowy chutes and transporting a limp-bodied adult on a stretcher or otherwise is at least as dangerous as anything else? Ugh.

Thank you CCSAR!!

[mtngoatwithstyle]

When I see the photos, it is dumping and in the middle of the night... all I can say is Thank you SAR for your courage. That had to be a very difficult rescue, I think. Also glad, the hiker is ok but I wonder how being in the elements for so long affected him/her.
A long time ago, another hiker ( I think) went through a similar experience on a 14er and lost his shoes and was hiking down barefoot in the snow. I remember him writing a report and explaining what had happened a few months later.
I would love to know more about this hiker and see how we can continue to support our community in understanding and being knowledgeable of the risks of hiking in Winter when one is not knowledgeable or understands all the variables that may happen.

[sunbleached]

Standard procedure is warm up the hypothermic individual before extraction? I assume this is to (a) make sure the individual actually survives and (b) the terrain was very challenging in those snowy chutes and transporting a limp-bodied adult on a stretcher or otherwise is at least as dangerous as anything else? Ugh.

Disclaimer that I am not involved with CCSAR, but I do have SAR experience elsewhere. Yeah, you basically nailed it: you want the person to rescue themselves as best you can. Plus, moving a hypothermic victim can be dangerous - if it's not immediately life-threatening, then it's best to warm them up on-site prior to extraction.

[sunbleached]

I would love to know more about this hiker and see how we can continue to support our community in understanding and being knowledgeable of the risks of hiking in Winter when one is not knowledgeable or understands all the variables that may happen.

Pardon me for the double-post, but I'm really interested in this as well. Though I'm new to the Colorado mountains specifically, I have so much love for peaks and outdoor education, and I'd love to find ways to facilitate that as best I can. Too many times I see people posting what are ""dumb"" questions that get laugh reacts on Facebook, and that's just going to keep people from asking those ""dumb"" questions and then get themselves into bad situations. (14ers.com's Facebook page is pretty good about discouraging that antagonistic attitude, which is super refreshing after some of the nastier Northeast USA groups I've been a part of.) Would love to see what's available here and what can be facilitated, CMC of course notwithstanding!

[daway8]

I would love to know more about this hiker and see how we can continue to support our community in understanding and being knowledgeable of the risks of hiking in Winter when one is not knowledgeable or understands all the variables that may happen.

Pardon me for the double-post, but I'm really interested in this as well. Though I'm new to the Colorado mountains specifically, I have so much love for peaks and outdoor education, and I'd love to find ways to facilitate that as best I can. Too many times I see people posting what are ""dumb"" questions that get laugh reacts on Facebook, and that's just going to keep people from asking those ""dumb"" questions and then get themselves into bad situations. (14ers.com's Facebook page is pretty good about discouraging that antagonistic attitude, which is super refreshing after some of the nastier Northeast USA groups I've been a part of.) Would love to see what's available here and what can be facilitated, CMC of course notwithstanding!

There's been a little improvement recently but there are still a number of people on this forum who, upon seeing a question that seems dumb, immediately assume nobody is actually that dumb and so they assume the person must be a troll and start berating them.

This sometimes leads to people who are legitimately clueless being run off instead of getting the useful insight they need. Wonder if the person in this article was one such person...?

[susanjoypaul]

This may be a good time to draw people's attention to this part of the site: https://www.14ers.com/winter-14ers-for-beginners

There's a lot of good info there.

No shame in not knowing.
Now, not asking, or not making the effort to educate yourself...

Then again, people often don't know what they don't know.

[justiner]

No shame in not knowing.

I know what you mean, but not checking the weather forecast could be interpreted as "not knowing", but really is being perhaps a little ignorant. This individual sounds like they went out thinking summer was happening and found winter in full force instead. That's preventable by looking at a calendar. Princeton is easily viewable from a distance from just town, there shouldn't have been a big surprise, once you see snow on the ground.