Hiker stranded for hours in 5 degree weather after 500-foot fall on Colorado mountain

A woman was rescued after she fell 500 feet off a hiking trail in Colorado and suffered broken bones, a head injury and frostbite, the rescue team said.

Two hikers were trying to descend Mount Yale when one “tumbled about 500 feet and came to a stop in the rocks,” according to a Facebook post by Chaffee County Search and Rescue North. An SOS activation from a Garmin InReach notified rescuers of the incident on Nov. 18 around 4 p.m.

Helicopters were unable to take 18 rescuers to the location “due to weather,” the post said, so teams made their way to the hiker on foot.

Temperatures throughout the night were 5 degrees with a minus 15 degree windchill, rescuers said. Rescuers’ warmth was checked every 15 minutes.

Teams needed ice axes and crampons to be able to reach the injured hiker, rescuers said. One team “descended into the bowl to reach” her while the other was on standby at the ridge.

At around 11 p.m., the rescue team was able to reach the woman. They did their best to keep her warm while a medical assessment was performed, rescuers said.

Around 1 a.m., a rescue helicopter was flown out to retrieve her but was unable to land due to the weather, rescuers said.

After multiple failed attempts to land, another helicopter flew in an hour later to “airdrop additional warm weather and survival gear for the subject and rescuers as an air evacuation would not be possible until dawn.”

When daylight hit, two rescue technicians from Mountain Rescue Aspen were able to hoist her up the mountain, rescuers said.

By 8:30 a.m., the woman was headed to a hospital.

A helicopter was able to extract the rest of the search and rescue team members and the injured hiker’s friend, with everyone getting out by 12:30 p.m., rescuers said.

Mount Yale is labeled as a strenuous and difficult trail with an elevation between 9,910 feet and 14,196 feet, according to the Hiking and Walking website. It has a round-trip length of 9.5 miles.

Chaffee County Search and Rescue urges hikers to remember that if they choose to attempt a winter summit, have gear to spend the night, check weather conditions, stick to the trail and “know when to turn around to summit another day,” according to the Facebook post.

Mount Yale is about 140 miles southwest of Denver.

This story was originally published November 23, 2022 at 11:04 AM with the headline "Hiker stranded for hours in 5 degree weather after 500-foot fall on Colorado mountain."