A 39-year-old climber was rescued Sunday from North Maroon Peak, a fourteener southwest of Aspen in the Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness Area, sheriff’s officials said.
The climber, who has not been publicly identified, fell and broke a leg in steep and unstable terrain less than 200 feet from the mountain’s 14,022-foot summit, according to a from the Pitkin County Sheriff’s Office.
and the sheriff’s office responded to an emergency SOS sent by the climber at about 9:15 a.m. Sunday, sheriff’s officials said.
The climber used a two-way satellite messaging device to communicate with rescue teams, according to the news release.
“Mountain Rescue Aspen and the Pitkin County Sheriff’s Office would like to remind all adventurers that traveling with a partner and having the ability to communicate (while not relying on cellular coverage) in the mountains can help expedite a rescue in case of emergency,” officials stated in the news release.Mountain Rescue Aspen officials activated a team, which helped arrange a Colorado National Guard to rescue the climber, sheriff’s officials said.
An off-duty member of New Mexico-based was also climbing in the area and helped the injured climber until Colorado rescuers arrived, sheriff’s officials said.
The injured climber was successfully hoisted off the mountain just before 1 p.m. Sunday and flown to a nearby airport, where an ambulance was waiting to take the climber to the hospital, according to the sheriff’s office.
All 22 members of the Mountain Rescue Aspen team were out of the field by 4:30 p.m. Sunday, officials said.
