Key Takeaways
- Five volunteer rescuers climbed overnight through hip-deep snow to reach a stranded solo hiker near Frigid Air Pass.
- A Starlink terminal maintained real-time contact with mission command until a National Guard Black Hawk could perform a hoist.
What Happened
A 37-year-old solo hiker stranded near Colorado’s 12,415-foot Frigid Air Pass was rescued after an all-night operation that combined a five-person ground team, satellite internet, civilian aircraft, and a military helicopter.
Pitkin County dispatch received a text reading “Please help me” at about 8 p.m. on October 29. The woman had told a relative her phone battery was at 10 percent. Communication then stopped, leaving rescuers with one coordinate on the north side of the pass and little information about her condition.
CareFlight of the Rockies located her around 11 p.m. She was moving through deep snow with a headlamp, but the helicopter could not find a safe landing zone. Crested Butte Search and Rescue sent five volunteers from the West Maroon trailhead as temperatures fell into the teens and snow reached mid-thigh to hip depth.
The team carried a Starlink terminal that maintained real-time communication with the mission coordinator throughout the night. Two rescuers reached the pass around 3:10 a.m. and spotted the hiker 300 to 400 feet below. Avalanche danger, darkness, and steep terrain forced them to wait for the rest of the team before descending.
Rescuers reached the woman around 6 a.m. She could no longer walk and showed significant cold-related injuries and signs of hypothermia. They added insulation, placed her in a protective bivy, and requested a hoist aircraft because carrying her up the snow-loaded slope was unsafe.
A Colorado Army National Guard UH-60 Black Hawk arrived from Gypsum with Vail Mountain Rescue technicians aboard. The crew hoisted the hiker around 9:15 a.m. and transferred her at Aspen Airport to a medical helicopter bound for the UCHealth Burn and Frostbite Center. All five volunteers were safely off the mountain by 10:24 a.m., more than 14 hours after the first text.
