09-03-2024
Fifteen co-workers headed out to an office retreat in Colorado's Rocky Mountains. These insurance employees met at sunrise to head up Mount Shavano, a summit of 14,000 feet. They divided into smaller groups. Some individuals climbed up the summit, and others headed down to another part of the mountain.
One male hiker became separated from all of the groups. He reached the summit at 11:30 a.m. but became disoriented as he tried to head back down. The co-workers made his descent harder by picking up the group's pieces of gear left to mark their path down. The man used his GPS to pin his location for the co-workers. They responded, letting him know he was off the trail and should double back to find it. Four hours later, the man texted his co-workers, sharing that he was closer to the trail but still high up on the mountain. A strong storm passed through the area with freezing rain and high winds, causing the man to become disoriented again and lose his cell signal.
At dusk, two co-workers went to look for their lost companion, who was still not back. They could not find him. At 9:00 p.m., search teams initiated drones and helicopters to look for him. Because of the storm, they were unable to find him. While nine agencies coordinated a search, the man's cell phone allowed him to reach out the following morning. Search teams rescued him from a gully, and he reported falling at least 20 times trying to come down the mountain. The man was briefly hospitalized but is now at home. A search and rescue team representative says the workers did not abandon the man outright, and hikers separating from groups is the "No. 1 cause of lost hikers."