Screams lead Rocky Mountain National Park visitors to injured woman in snow couloir

A woman yelled out for help in Rocky Mountain National Park until visitors heard her calls.

The 59-year-old woman fell Sunday, July 10, in the park’s Ptarmigan Fingers area and was injured, the National Park Service said.

“Bystanders heard her calls for help and aided her,” park officials said in a July 11 news release. “Bystanders were able to use their satellite communication devices to contact park rangers.”

The Boulder, Colorado, woman was seriously injured. Search and rescue officials and campers helped care for her overnight at the park’s Odessa Lake. More than 45 people pitched in to help the woman.

At about 11 a.m. the next morning, the woman was flown out of the area by air ambulance, park officials said. Park rangers did not disclose the woman’s injuries or condition.

The woman wasn’t the only person who was hurt in the same area. A 61-year-old man for Boulder was also injured.

“(He) had been injured in a significant tumbling fall on a snow couloir in the Ptarmigan Fingers area above Odessa Lake,” park officials said.

Rescuers determined the man’s exact location, and he was hoisted into a helicopter at about 8 p.m. He was flown to a medical center.

Park rangers did not disclose the man’s injuries or condition.

Rocky Mountain National Park encompasses nearly 266,000 acres in Colorado’s mountains. In 2021, more than 4 million people visited the park, according to the National Park Service.

This story was originally published July 12, 2022 at 9:50 AM with the headline "Screams lead Rocky Mountain National Park visitors to injured woman in snow couloir."