Longtime Alpine Rescue Team member Joelle Witmer thought she’d seen it all.
And then, during a search in a June blizzard far above timberline on Mount Evans, Witmer found the shivering hikers, outfitted in sandals, shorts and cotton T-shirts.
They had no water. No food. They had nothing warm to wear, no shelter and no way to improvise one.
“You wonder what they were thinking,” she said.
She and her colleagues on the Evergreen-based team, and other search-and-rescue teams throughout the state, have assisted would-be hikers whose clothes might please “What Not to Wear” hosts Stacy London and Clinton Kelly but definitely can’t do the job in Colorado’s high country.
“I tell people that if they plan to go more than 100 yards away from their car, they need to be prepared to spend at least one night out,” says Kevin Wright, who is on the Alamosa Valley Search and Rescue team.
“They need to have the 10 essentials (see sidebar, Page 1C), and they need to be very careful about relying on technology. GPS units run out of batteries. They get broken. Spot satellite tracking systems can fail.”
In some cases, people inadvertently trigger the emergency signal when they use a personal locating beacon because they don’t know how to use the device properly.
In the past year, The Alpine Rescue Team had one case in which they responded to at least eight emergency signals — all from the same user on Berthoud Pass. Searchers eventually concluded that the user was unclear on how the device functioned, accidentally activating the alarm on the assumption that it worked more or less like an avalanche beacon.
While technological gaffes are increasing along with the popularity of tracking beacons, the biggest mistakes remain errors of human judgment. Rescue team members routinely retrieve stranded hikers whose cotton T-shirt, shorts and casual shoes are fine for an urban walk but unequal to Colorado’s notoriously changeable weather.
“It can be nice and clear and warm and sunny when people leave Boulder to go for a hike, and then before you know it, a storm comes up and you’re wet and cold,” said Kevin Harner, a spokesman for Boulder-based Rocky Mountain Rescue.
“What’s an example? Take the rescue we had in late April. It started out as a nice day, and someone went scrambling in the Flatirons. Then the weather deteriorated. He got stuck in a combination of rain, fog and even light snow, and he was out there until we found him, well after dark.”
The Alpine Rescue Team’s 10 essentials
Warm wool or polypropylene clothing and rain gear
First-aid kit
Matches and fire-starter
Sunglasses
Map and compass
Shelter (tent or bivouac bag)
Emergency ready-to-eat food
Emergency water
Pocket knife
Flashlight
And two more: “Alpine Rescue Team Shares Safety Tips for Hiking” video (free online at ) — and a companion.
