DENVER (KDVR) — An injured climber who was found after audibly calling for help was airlifted from Capitol Peak early Saturday, after separating from their climbing partner Friday afternoon.
The climber, who was not identified, was evacuated from the peak of Capitol Peak, located in Pitkin County, following a search that began after their partner made a 911 call for an overdue climber at approximately 6:52 p.m. Friday, according to Mountain Rescue Aspen.
MRA, which led the search and rescue effort, said the climbers chose to separate after reaching the Capitol-Daly saddle — a common path used by climbers ascending Capitol Peak — with one staying behind while the other continued towards the summit.
The climbers had agreed to reunite at the saddle within five hours, according to MRA, which said the climber who stayed behind ultimately chose to descend to seek help when their partner did not return within that timeframe.
In addition to “critical” information provided by the climber who sought help, MRA said it also received a text message from a camper who said they had heard cries for help from the north side of Capitol Peak, above Capitol Lake.
The camper was one of two campers encountered by the descending climber, who had earlier run into them while hiking out toward the trailhead and borrowed their phone to call for help, MRA said.
MRA said it chose to deploy a ground team to Capitol Lake to search on foot at 9:51 p.m., and coordinated with the Colorado Search and Rescue Association to request aerial assistance from the Colorado National Guard’s High-Altitude Army National Guard Aviation Training Site at “first light.”
CareFlight of the Rockies was also asked at 4 a.m. to conduct an aerial reconnaissance mission using night-vision goggles, due to the “uncertainty” of the missing climbers’ exact location, MRA said.
The ground team ultimately made contact with the climber at 4:16 a.m. after “several hours” of searching and “continued audible calls for help.’ The climber was confirmed to be injured at that time and their approximate location was relayed to HAATS for extraction.
MRA said 21 of its all-volunteer personnel were involved with the search and rescue mission —totalling 265 volunteer hours — and that all of its team members were out of the field by 10 a.m.
