At approximately 7:00pm on November 8, 2023, CCSAR-N was paged for a hiker in distress who had bushwacked to summit a 13’er earlier in the day. When inclement weather moved in the hiker found themself unprepared; out of water, with no food, wearing only a cotton hoodie and no way to warm themself.
With darkness approaching and hypothermia setting in, the individual decided, rather than take the same way down, the best plan was to bail down an avalanche chute to try to get to a road.
The subject did have a phone; however, SAR was unable to obtain GPS information for the subject from this device and all the subject could tell SAR about their location was that they were in an avalanche chute east of Cottonwood Lake. The subject was advised to keep moving in a downward direction.
Approximately 25 SAR members from CCSAR-N and CCSAR-S were deployed into the field to search for the subject during a severe snowstorm, while another 5+ members conducted incident command functions at the CCSAR-N bay. Several avalanche chutes were searched from the bottom up, with one searched from the top down due to steepness, deadfall and slippery conditions.
At approximately 12:42am, the team descending into the gully from the ridge in approximately six to eight inches of new snow, located what appeared to be footprints. This team continued to follow the footprints until they came upon an unusual looking rock. Upon further investigation, it was determined it was not a rock, but the subject, sitting upright in a fetal position covered in snow. The subject was assessed and found to be alive but very hypothermic.
The teams spent approximately three hours warming the subject at their location prior to beginning the long and arduous extraction over deadfall down the steep gully. The subject was located at 2:00am and the extraction began at 5:00am. Ropes were used to lower the subject in a sked for one section. At approximately 6:15am, the subject notified the teams that they felt like they could assist with the rescue by walking. The subject then walked out with assistance and was with an ambulance for evaluation by 7:00am.
