Climber heard yelling for help rescued near North Maroon Peak

DENVER (KDVR) — A few hours after a text to 911, a climber was safely rescued from a difficult terrain area near North Maroon Peak.

Just before 1 p.m. Saturday, the Pitkin County Regional Emergency Dispatch Center received a 911 text from a climber who said they were “trapped” but not injured.

GPS location showed that the climber was “well off the standard climbing route, heading toward the central couloir of North Maroon Peak,” the Pitkin County Sheriff’s Office said in a release.

Another person was nearby and heard the climber “yelling for help.” The sheriff’s office said they used their Garmin device to notify first responders.

Rescue efforts began. At 2:45 p.m., a rescue team from Mountain Rescue Aspen started up the trail to the climber while a hoist helicopter from the High Altitude Aviation Training School responded to assist.

At 4:15 p.m., the rescue helicopter was above the climber and he was hoisted up within a few minutes.

The climber and all of the rescue team members were safely out of the field by 6:05 p.m.

“The Pitkin County Sheriff’s Officer and Mountain Rescue Aspen would like to remind people entering the backcountry they should be knowledgeable of their hiking and climbing routes and not deviate from those routes,” the sheriff’s office said in the release.

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