A day of four-wheeling turned into a two-night, snow-laden ordeal when a 55-year-old man’s truck got stuck near Mount Herman Road and he refused to phone rescuers for help.
The hold-out ended Tuesday when El Paso County Search and Rescue workers found the man “pretty hypothermic” about 8 p.m., said Reg Francklyn, an El Paso County Search and Rescue spokesman.
“I don’t think he would have survived another night,” Francklyn said.
The man, whose name was not released, was driving Sunday afternoon on Forest Road 320C off Mount Herman Road when his truck became stuck, Francklyn said.
He called his family that day, and, equipped with a sleeping bag and extra clothes, he weathered a snowstorm Sunday night.
When his family couldn’t find him Monday, he survived single-digit temperatures during a second night on the mountain, Francklyn said.
A weather station at Monument Hill recorded a low of 3 degrees Tuesday morning.
A dozen rescuers were summoned to the mountain at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday when the man called for help, Francklyn said. Late Tuesday, he was being carried off the mountain.
“He was not really equipped for the conditions,” Francklyn said. “However, the one thing he did do right, which probably saved his life, was he stayed by his vehicle” and carried a cellphone.
The team, which doesn’t charge people in need of help, never turns down a call for help, Francklyn said. But, he added, such requests are “nemesis” missions as they are avoidable.
He recommended people four-wheel in teams of two — never just one vehicle — as well as having adequate equipment for cold weather.
“It’s a wilderness environment,” Francklyn said.
“What could be a Sunday drive could turn into a life-threatening event with just the change of the weather, which as you know happens pretty frequently around here.”
