Colorado man left behind during office retreat survives night on mountain

A Colorado man survived a night on a mountain by himself – while injured – after getting left behind by his co-workers during an office retreat, which rescue officials pointed out may lead to some “awkward encounters at the office in the coming days and weeks”.

Colorado’s Chaffee County Search and Rescue South (CCSAR-S) shared the hiker’s harrowing ordeal in a Facebook post earlier this week, saying that around 9pm last Friday, it was “activated for a report of an overdue hiker”. The hiker was wearing all black on the standard route of Mount Shavano, a high mountain summit in the southern Sawatch range of the Rocky mountains.

The hiker was part of a 15-person group that embarked on an office hiking retreat, with one group completing summit attempts and a separate group ascending to the saddle and returning from there, CCSAR-S wrote in its post.

“When the subject summited at 11:30[am] and turned to descend, he became disoriented, finding belongings left in the boulder field to mark the descent by the previous group having been picked up as they hiked down,” CCSAR-S said, adding, “In his initial attempts to descend, he found himself in the steep boulder and scree field on the northeast slopes toward Shavano Lake.”

The group noted that the hiker sent a location pin drop to his co-workers who were already descending. The co-workers then informed him that his route was wrong and instructed him to climb back up the slope again to regain the trail. At around 3.50pm, the hiker sent another location pin drop to his co-workers as he nearly regained the ridge between the Mt Shavano and Tabeguache Peak trailhead.

Shortly after the hiker sent his location, a storm swept through the area with “freezing rain and high winds”, prompting the hiker to become disoriented again while losing cell signal.

After receiving the missing hiker alert at 9pm that evening, CCSAR-S deployed two teams and a drone pilot. The teams worked from the last known point on the ridge between Mt Shavano and Tabeguache and were focused on clearing the standard route to the last known point, as well as the Shavano Lake and Squaw Creek drainage.

In its Facebook post, CCSAR-S wrote that the teams encountered strong winds and freezing rain, in turn making the process to reach the summit unsafe, in addition to difficult for the drone operator.

A medical rescue helicopter also assisted the teams with the search and “despite flying several search patterns through the area[,] did not detect any sources of artificial light apart from search teams anywhere on the mountain,” the post said. The teams remained in the field until 9am the next morning with no trace of the hiker.

A second search operation began that morning, with the help from at least nine additional search and rescue groups, including those from nearby counties.

With the second search operation underway, the hiker managed to regain enough cell service to dial 911. The hiker “reported being very disoriented on his descent, and falling at least 20 times on the steep slopes below Esprit point toward the North Fork”. It added that after the last fall, he was unable to get back up but “very luckily regained enough cell service to make his call”.

Upon locating the hiker, the search and rescue teams deployed technical rope lowers to extract him from the mountain. He was then stabilized and evaluated by search and rescue personnel before being transported to a hospital for further care.

In its post on Facebook, CCSAR-S issued a public reminder, urging hikers to always hike with a partner, pack bright clothing and to remember to toss the “10 Essentials in your daypack”.

They also quipped in the post that the ordeal “might cause some awkward encounters at the office in the coming days and weeks”.

The 10 Essentials are navigation, sun protection, insulation, illumination, first-aid supplies, fire, repair kit and tools, nutrition, hydration and emergency shelter, according to the National Park Service.

News of the stranded hiker prompted various responses online, with some hailing the SAR teams, while others criticized his co-workers.

“Excellent teamwork in response to non-existent teamwork! Well done,” one person wrote on Facebook. Another user said: “15 of you guys and NONE of you went back to help or stuck with em?! Wow.”

Someone else echoed similar sentiments, writing: “So…they not only left him behind in the first place, while they summited, but then his coworkers let him go to the summit alone, then they moved rock markers on their way back down. Wow. Great team building experience. Glad he’s OK. Hopefully he finds a new job soon.”