Local news headlines around this are pretty brutal, lol.
"Office retreat gone wrong: Man left on Colorado summit overnight by coworkers"
Glad it turned out ok!
FOUND!!! Missing Hiker - 8/23/24 Mount Shavano/Tebeguache
Forum rules
- This is a mountaineering forum, so please keep your posts on-topic. Posts do not all have to be related to the 14ers but should at least be mountaineering-related.
- Personal attacks and confrontational behavior will result in removal from the forum at the discretion of the administrators.
- Do not use this forum to advertise, sell photos or other products or promote a commercial website.
- Posts will be removed at the discretion of the site administrator or moderator(s), including: Troll posts, posts pushing political views or religious beliefs, and posts with the purpose of instigating conflict within the forum.
For more details, please see the Terms of Use you agreed to when joining the forum.
-
- Posts: 26
- Joined: 7/11/2017
- 14ers: 21
- 13ers: 1
- Trip Reports (1)
-
- Posts: 259
- Joined: 1/23/2017
- 14ers: 42 1
- 13ers: 207 3
- Trip Reports (0)
Re: FOUND!!! Missing Hiker - 8/23/24 Mount Shavano/Tebeguache
Here's the complete statement from the Chaffee County SAR south team, posted Sunday on their Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/ChaffeeCountyS ... qbSv4YBvZl
https://www.facebook.com/ChaffeeCountyS ... qbSv4YBvZl
At around 21:00 hours on the night of Friday August 23, Chaffee County SAR South was activated for a report of an overdue hiker, wearing all black, on the Mt. Shavano standard route. Initial reports from our communications center indicated a group of 15 hikers on an office work retreat had left the Blanks Cabin Trailhead at sunrise that morning, with a group completing summit attempts and a separate group ascending to the saddle and returning from there. In what might cause some awkward encounters at the office in the coming days and weeks, one member of their party was left to complete his final summit push alone.
When the subject summited at 11:30 and turned to descend, he became disoriented, finding belongings left in the boulder field to mark the descent by the previous group having been picked up as they hiked down. In his initial attempts to descend, he found himself in the steep boulder and scree field on the northeast slopes toward Shavano Lake. Concerned for himself, he sent a pindrop to co-workers already descending. These co-workers informed him his route was wrong and to climb back up the slope to regain the trail. Around 15:50 as he nearly had regained the ridge between Shavano and Tabeguache, he sent another pin drop and text to his group that he was near the trail. Shortly after that message, a strong storm passed through the area with freezing rain and high winds, and he again became disoriented, losing cell phone signal as well.
Upon receiving the page at 21:00 that evening, CCSAR-S responded with two hasty teams and a drone pilot, departing from Blanks Cabin TH. Working from the last known point on the ridge between Shavano and Tabeguache, teams were focused on clearing the standard route to the last known point, and the Shavano Lake / Squaw Creek drainage. During the course of the night, teams encountered high winds and freezing rain, which made reaching the summit unsafe, and presented many difficulties for the drone operator. SAR was assisted with an additional aerial search by REACH’s Lifeline 2 helicopter, who despite flying several search patterns throughout the area did not detect any sources of artificial light apart from search teams anywhere on the mountain. The hasty teams remained in the field until 0900 Saturday morning, finding no trace of the missing subject.
Resources and assistance from CSAR were requested overnight, and a second operational period began at 1000 Saturday with tremendous assistance from 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 - CSAR.
As teams began being inserted into the field for a large search effort, the subject regained enough cell service to make a call to 911. The subject was located above the North Fork drainage, in a gully below Espirit Point. He reported being very disoriented on his descent, and falling at least 20 times on the steep slopes below Espirit point toward the North Fork. After the last fall he was unable to get back up, but very luckily regained enough cell service to make his call.
With a solid location, all efforts were focused on reaching and extracting the subject, which involved technical rope lowers and phenomenal cooperation and teamwork from all teams in the field. The subject was stabilized and evaluated by SAR personnel, and transported to a hospital for further definitive care.
CCSAR cannot adequately express our thanks to our SAR partners from around the state who arrived to assist us with this call. We’d also again like to remind everyone recreating in the backcountry to always hike with a partner, pack some bright clothing and remember to toss the 10 Essentials in your daypack. This hiker was phenomenally lucky to have regained cell service when he did, and to still have enough consciousness and wherewithal to call 911. Though he was located in a tertiary search area, it would have been some time before teams made it to that location on their own.
=============================================
https://listsofjohn.com/m/Candace+Skalet
https://peakbagger.com/climber/climber.aspx?cid=29263
https://listsofjohn.com/m/Candace+Skalet
https://peakbagger.com/climber/climber.aspx?cid=29263