| Overdue Hiker On Pike’s Peak | ||
| El Paso County Search and Rescue/Rocky Mountain Trackers On an average weather morning, a hiker headed up Pike’s Peak alone, carrying a backpack and using trek poles for the hike. His intention was to get to the top of the peak and descend on the train in the afternoon. Going through Barr Camp (mileage-wise the halfway point to the top) late in the afternoon, the camp caretaker advised the hiker not to try to get to the top, as the tourist train that ascends the peak regularly may not be running by the time he reached the top, and there are usually adverse conditions possible late in the day. The hiker wished to try anyway and promptly left for the top. After being a long time overdue at home, a team was dispatched to the top of Pike’s Peak to see if he was stranded up there, or in between. Upon arriving in the dark, with sub zero temperatures, and high winds, the SAR team made a quick scan of the area and no one was found. A time was estimated by the Barr Camp personnel as to when he may have made the top (and also added again that he was using trek poles). The team sign cut the section that the hiker would most probably have ascended through, and a set of tracks, the right age and accompanied by trek pole marks, was found. These were the most recent tracks near the top, as Barr Camp said no one else had been through after this hiker. The set of tracks were followed zig-zagging the top of the peak, around the buildings, up to all the windows and doors, and eventually headed down the train tracks back towards Manitou Springs. Camp personnel were notified that they may be able to head him off if they went to the tracks from there and headed up. Shortly that was done and he was located, very tired and stumbling in the dark, on the tracks headed down. Camp personnel walked him back to the cabin and attended to him until he could be safely brought down. Again…direction of travel proved to be one of the deciding factors in the prompt location of the missing subject. |
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