Muted cries could barely be heard above the roar of a torrent shooting down from the snow-covered slopes of Independence Pass into a 400-foot-long tunnel.
Heidi Baumann, 50, of Miami and her niece’s boyfriend, Sandy Krohn, 27, of New York City, were swept halfway down the tunnel Wednesday morning while trying to rescue a dog that had slipped into Salvation Ditch when they were hiking. They clung to the corrugated walls of the tunnel and yelled for help.
“When I was sucked into it, I was afraid I was going to drown. I was scared to death,” Baumann said. “I have no idea whether I was on my back or my stomach. It was so cold. I’m really beat up, bruised and cut up.”
Baumann, Krohn and Glover, a black Labrador, survived partly because 60 firefighters, mountain-rescue volunteers and police were assembling at 8:45 a.m. in Aspen for the Fourth of July parade when a call was received from a hiker after he heard cries coming out of the tunnel, said Michael Kendrick of the Pitkin County Sheriff’s Department.
Baumann and Krohn were taken to Aspen Valley Hospital, where they were treated for hypothermia. Baumann’s body temperature was 94 degrees, said Capt. Annie Gonzales, a volunteer firefighter.
Baumann said she, Krohn and another relative took their dogs for a walk.
“It was gorgeous,” she said.
They let the dogs swim in the ditch, but Glover began struggling against the current. Baumann reached to grab her dog and fell in. Krohn then fell in trying to help her.
“We just went flying down the ditch,” she said. “There was no way to stop yourself. The water was rushing so fast. It’s pitch black, and you don’t know what’s at the end.”
She was worried that the water would get deeper and she wouldn’t be able to keep her head above the surface. Finally, she was able to grab a groove in the wall and brace her foot against the bottom. She couldn’t stop trembling. Krohn stopped himself near her, and Glover swam upstream to them.
Baumann’s sister-in-law Nancy Baumann, who had been hiking with the group, called 911.
Emergency workers raced a quarter-mile up Sunnyside Trail with wet suits, harnesses and ropes. There was only enough space in the 4-foot-wide tunnel for them to keep their heads above water. They could not see Baumann or Krohn.
“It was a little sketchy,” said Rick Balentine, deputy chief of the Aspen Volunteer Fire Department.
Harnessed to two ropes, Aspen firefighters descended on their backs rapidly down the tunnel. After about 100 feet, the tunnel dropped sharply and the water pressure increased threefold, Balentine said.
“After you got so far in the hole, you couldn’t see your hands in front of your face,” Balentine said. “Imagine your worst carnival ride and not knowing what’s at the end.”
The first two firefighters to reach the hikers took Baumann first. She was so exhausted, she could not hold on to them and had to be held. Six rescuers tugged on each rope to pull them out.
Balentine descended to get Krohn and Glover. But he said he and another firefighter had trouble getting Krohn out because he was clinging to the dog. Water was rushing over their heads.
Balentine retreated, and Gonzales, who was wearing a wet suit, went down to help. It was more dangerous because Krohn wouldn’t let go of Glover, and they had to take them out together.
“The dog was freaked out,” Gonzales said. “There was an additional level of danger.”
Gonzales and another firefighter held on to Krohn and Glover as they were pulled out of the tunnel against the rushing water.
“It could have been much worse,” Kendrick said. “There wasn’t a lot of air in the tunnel. You can’t blame anybody, but you wish people would think before they jump. They were very lucky they survived.”
Baumann said there should be a warning sign alongside the ditch. Children would have never been able to keep their heads above the water, she said.
“It was a complete fluke accident,” she said.
Staff writer Kirk Mitchell can be reached at 303-954-1206 or kmitchell@denverpost.com.
