SALIDA, Colorado — A man who was left by his group of office colleagues to complete his final climb to the top of a Colorado mountain became disoriented and fell several times during a night on the mountain in icy conditions and high winds.
Chaffee County Search and Rescue officials said in a Facebook post that they received a call Friday night about a hiker running late on Mount Shavano. The mountain, which has an elevation of 14,231 feet (4,338 meters), is about 153 miles (426 kilometers) southwest of Denver.
A group of 15 hikers, including the man, left the trailhead at dawn Friday as part of an office retreat, with some members of the group planning to climb to the summit. The man had to complete his final attempt to reach the summit alone, officials said.
The man reached the summit around 11:30 a.m. Friday and became disoriented when he turned to descend. He noticed that gear left in a boulder field to mark the descent had been picked up, officials said. When he hit a scree field, an unstable slope made up of rock fragments and other debris, on his first few descents, he texted his colleagues, telling him he was off-route and that he would have to climb back up to find the trail.
Shortly before 4 p.m., he texted that he was near the trail, but a heavy storm was passing through with sleet and high winds. He became disoriented and lost cell phone reception, the message said.
The search and rescue team received a call around 9 p.m. and sent out teams that searched in vain until the next morning. They encountered high winds and icy conditions that made reaching the summit unsafe, officials said. A search helicopter the night before also failed to find the hiker.
On Saturday morning, as rescuers from nearly a dozen agencies began a massive search, the hiker called 911 and crews were able to find him in a ravine. He told search and rescue officials that he had fallen at least 20 times on the steep slopes during the storm and that he had been unable to get back up after the last fall.
After the man was removed from the gully, stabilized and evaluated, he was taken to a hospital for further care. The man’s name and the extent of his injuries have not been released.
“This hiker was extremely fortunate that he had cell service when he did, and that he still had the awareness and resources to call 911,” search and rescue officials said. “Although he was in a tertiary search area, it would be some time before teams could reach that location on their own.”