that others
may live
that others
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Larimer County Search and Rescue
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Saturday 12 January 2008 -- Bobcat Ridge Natural Area -- 16:32 SAR Manager page for L-1 to call S-17 (Kevin J.)regarding a lost hiker at Bobcat Ridge Natural Area (which is southwest of Masonville). George J. L-1, Robin A., who is in training to be a SAR Manager, and Kevin had a three-way phone conversation to get the details and decide on a response plan. A 40's year old female was hiking the Ginny Trail, and atop that western ridge she noted the trail wasn't going in a direction that she felt comfortable with at that hour, with sunset imminent. She was able to see the main trail in the lower elevation to the east, and decided to cut cross country to reach it. Well, as those of you who've hiked the area know, there are a series of drainages coming off that ridge, and when she got into one, she lost her reference points and decided to call 911, which enabled Dispatch to obtain her GPS coordinates 40.473514, -105.242779) (UTM 13T 0470420 4480343). Two City Parks Rangers were still on duty there, and had also been notified. While Kevin was en-route, one of them drove their Gator-type ATV up the access road and was able to locate and access her location. She was wearing dark blue clothing, but did have the presence of mind to put her light blue fleece atop her jacket, which aided the Ranger in visually locating her. Kevin did continue on to meet with them, and the Team's participation was stood down at 17:01. * * * * * * * * * * * * * Saturday 12 January 2008 -- Cameron Pass area --
At 20:02, L-1 George J.
received a non-priority page
with just a phone number,
which turned out to be from
Kevin J. Dispatch had
notified him of a call from
a concerned mother about a
trio of teenage males (2 of
16 yoa, 1 of 18 yoa) who had
not yet returned from
snowboarding somewhere in
the Cameron Pass area.
After talking with the
respective mothers, Kevin
determined the trio had
departed Fort Collins at
12:30, and that there was no
consensus as to when the
teens were expected home.
One of the mom's did provide
a vehicle description, but
she didn't know the license
plate number. Kevin
explained to them that the
drive time and time for one
run before darkness settled
in would make it unlikely
they could return to Fort
Collins before 20:30. Kevin
and George were still on the
phone discussing avalanche
danger and response options
when Kevin was paged at
20:16 that the teens were
home. * * * * * * * * * * * * * TIMBER RIDGE TRAILER PARK SEARCH By: Mark Sheets – Relief Duty SAR Manager 12/11/07 08:37 Page goes out for SAR to respond to Timber Ridge Trailer Park near Taft Hill and CR-38E re: a missing 9 YOA male. Sheriff Deputies had been looking for the youngster for about 30-minutes but the lad had been missing for about an hour prior to their arrival. The young man bolted out of the window of his residence after being advised by his mother that “He WILL be going to school today”. The young man had a history of leaving when he was unhappy and his mother said he has no concept of hot or cold as he is somewhat mentally challenged. It was about 25 degrees with about 6” of fresh snow on the ground with more snow falling. He was dressed in tennis shoes, jeans and a Dallas Cowboys jacket. Dogs, trackers and searchers from LCSAR responded to join the search in progress with Larimer County Sheriff’s Dept. Dispatch sent a reverse 911 to the area which began to elicit reports from a number of residence stating they had seen him in the area West of his residence. This focused the search area and eventually, a deputy spotted the lad trying to elude the searchers. He pursued the boy on foot and eventually caught him. He stated he saw the patrol car in front of his residence and decided to try his best to elude them. He was returned to his residence and all units were stood down at 09:59. MISSION STATISTICS 4 Larimer Sheriff Deputies 1 Emergency Services Specialist 19 LCSAR members, with 2 dogs 150 total volunteer miles (15 personal vehicles at nominal 10 miles avg. round trip) 33.25 total volunteer hours (1.75 hours from start to finish) ...continued there were tracks in the snow leading away from the subjects bedroom window. They had about 2 inches of snow on top of them. We started dusting and brushing them and Scott did a great job in finding the signature track after brushing away the snow on one print by the window (see attached) It had some transfer from when the subject jumped out of the window and hit hard all the way down to dirt. It transferred to the next step where it showed up in the snow.
The subject was located
between two mobile homes by
one of the deputies. We went
to the location where the
subject was found and found
the signature print in that
area (see attached)
This was just the snow
tracking side that others
might be interested in. We
had it heading south and
were in the process of
determining if he went East
or West at the first
intersection but had a hard
time due to all the tire
traffic on top of it. After
the find, we back tracked
him and he came in from the
west and heard from
neighbors that said they saw
him walking west about the
time he went missing. We
think he was hanging out
around the mobile homes and
on his way back.
"Never let them tell you
there aren't tracks to be
found!!"
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
CAMERON PASS AVALANCHE RESCUE 12/02/07 (Incident # 073360023)
By: Mark Sheets – Duty SAR Manager
12/02/07 13:46 Page: “PCQRT, SAR, SKI AND ES- PLEASE RESPOND TO THE MONTGOMERY PASS PARKING LOT APPROX MM65 FOR A SKIER THAT WAS IN AN AVALANCHE. HE IS OUT – BREATHING BUT NOT RESPONSIVE. UNK HOW FAR UP HE IS, RP IN PARKING LOT. SARA/COMM”
Shortly thereafter, it was determined that staging was actually to be at the Zimmerman Lake TH as the avalanche was in the HOT DOG BOWL, not Montgomery Pass. The subject, in a party of three snow boarders who were on foot had reportedly been buried in approx. 10 feet of snow for 10-15 minutes after the entire bowl slid. Two in the party managed to get clear when they noticed the slide starting. The subject was located by his buddies fairly quickly using an avalanche beacon (the all three had them). The two dug him out of the snow and started CPR. Eventually they noted the subject was breathing but not conscious. They transported the subject (means unknown) some distance towards the trail head in anticipation to meet rescuers coming in on the trail.
Lee Lang and a Colorado State Parks Ranger were some of the first responders on the scene and headed up immediately at 15:30hrs. The majority of SAR and Ski Patrol arrived at the trailhead and starting in by 15:50. A Ski Patrol toboggan from the Zimmerman Cache and other supplies were used on the rescue.
Rescuers reached the subject around 16:05 where they packaged him and headed down the trail, arriving at the trail head at 16:32. The subject was loaded into a waiting Jackson County (Park Hospital District) Ambulance where he was stabilized as best as possible prior to being transported to Joe Wright Reservoir Parking to be loaded into an awaiting Air-Life helicopter. From there, the subject was flown to Medical Center of the Rockies in Loveland. Status of the subject is unknown at the time of this writing.
I would like to thank everyone involved on this rescue. It was a great, cooperative effort by Poudre Canyon QRT’s, Larimer County SAR, Diamond Peaks Ski Patrol, Larimer County Sheriff, Jackson County Sheriff, Lake Hospital EMS, Colorado State Parks, Greeley Air-Life and his friends that were with him when this tragedy happened. From Page out at 13:46 to “In Ambulance” at 16:32 (2.75 hrs) is excellent considering it is a healthy 1.5 hour drive from Fort Collins to the trail head. WELL DONE!!
All resources were back in town by 19:30 hours.
MISSION STATISTICS 1 Emergency Services Specialist 17 LCSAR members, with 2 dogs 9 Diamond Peaks Ski Patrollers 2 State Parks Rangers 2 Ambulance crews 1 Helicopter 2730 total volunteer miles (21 personal vehicles at nominal 130 miles round trip) 149.5 total volunteer hours (5.75 hours from start to finish) NOTE: This slide happened around 12:30 on a SE facing, wind loaded slope and was most likely triggered by human(s). * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Nov 19, 2007 at 1425 hours: LCSAR
team paged to respond to Lory State
Park for fallen horse rider.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
11/15/2007, 0722 hours - Page for
SARDOC dispatcher to contact RMNP re
missing subject. * * * * * * * * * * * * * 10/25/07 Dog Request Loveland PD We had a request at 10:10 for dogs from Loveland PD to help find an 11 yoa male who took off at 07:00 to avoid going to school. I was covering for Mike F so I took the call. When I reached Loveland dispatch they were already on the phone with O2. I was filled in by O2 and began looking for dogs. They only wanted one or two. I first reached Mike E and got him and Merlin en route. I felt that Bear and I were a good resource as a trailing dog made sense. I took a few minutes to get ITC coverage and then headed to Loveland. When I arrived on scene Mike had scent articles and had just finished clearing the residence. I started Bear and worked to the north for about 20 minutes when we heard over the radio that subject had been located walking along a road. The stand down came at 12:15. Dan * * * * * * * * * * * * * 10/22/07 SAR Manager Alert Only SM page about 10:45
AM regarding a lost hunter in the
Pingree Hill area. He had not made a
planned rendevous, and had been last
seen about 2.5 hours before. ES was
having a hard time getting back in
contact with the reporting party. Forest
15 was in the area trying to contact the
RP and Sam 7 was on his way up to the
area from town. We were going to start
seeing what LCSAR resources were
available when S7 got the page that the
hunter had been located. * * * * * * * * * * * * * Wellington Search 10/11/07 By: Mark Sheets – Duty SAR Manager 10-11-07 16:45 Page: SAR Manger requested to call Dave Mosier. 17:09 Page: SAR respond direct to Wellington Jr High School reference missing 10 yo male. The subject was last seen around 15:15 hours, running away from an after school day camp after being admonished for doing something not permitted by rules. The subject stated that he is going to “run away to be with his dad who lives in Nebraska.” Larimer Sheriff was notified of the runaway and deputies started to search the area for the subject. SAR arrived at the ICP at Wellington Jr High School and immediately deployed trackers, dog teams, foot searchers and mobilized units. A dog team that was assigned to the West side of town (the direction the subject ran) had just began their assignment when they noticed a youngster walking North on the Rail Road on his way “out of town”. The subject was some distance ahead of them and while attempting to catch up to them, a black SUV was spotted approaching the subject. The subject willingly got into the vehicle. The dog team intercepted the vehicle to find it was driven by the local Soccer Coach who had heard of the search and decided to help. The subject was driven back to the ICP and reunited with his parents by 19:00. MISSION STATISTICS
3 Larimer Sheriff Deputies
1 Emergency Services Specialist
2 School Security Guards
17 LCSAR members, with 2 dogs
629 total volunteer miles (17 personal
vehicles at nominal 37 miles round trip)
42.5 total volunteer hours (2.5 hours
from start to finish)
* * * * * * * * * * * * * Saturday 6 October 2007 -- Direct
response page at 13:37 for hiker at Horsetooth Mountain Park (HTMP) that had
an injured ankle. The page from
dispatch did not specify the type of
response, so Code 3 (emergency lights
and siren) is presumed. Moments later
we received the page to downgrade
response to non-emergency, per Ocean 3,
Tony S. You can * * * * * * * * * * * * * 9-26-2007 0952 RMNP paged us to see if we could send some dog teams to assist them in a search for an overdue hiker who was to summit Mummy Mountain East of Lawn Lake and was due out the night before. L-1 was Out of service so again, I took the call as L-2.
The subject had been
emailing co-workers with a cell phone
with his progress up to the 12,500ft
mark on the SE ridge heading to the
top. His phone wasn't working the best
and he wasn't heard from after that.
The park was still in hasty mode and
covering all the likely trails and
wanted to get a small head start by
incorporating Dogs into the search
early.
We had 2 dog teams
with handlers and support people
responded. Zmijewski, Followill,
Purvis, Udel responded. Zmijewski and
Followill were inserted via helicopter
to the saddle NW of the summit and the
second team was still waiting on a
helicopter ride in at late morning and
since the handler needed to be at work
later in the day, they chose not to
insert.
Team was paged for
more searchers and Trackers for stand-by
on yesterday and then for searching for
today.
1835 the subject was
located by RMRG folks hiking in the Lawn
Lake trail on their way to an
assignment. I'm not sure what the
subject did in the mean time. The dog
team was finally out of the field by
12:30 this morning. Short ride in with
a Long hike out!
Resources used from
our team:
1 Volunteer SAR
Manager arranging teams
1 Volunteer In Town
Coordinator arranging teams
4 Volunteer search
members
48 total Volunteer
Hours
65 total Volunteer
miles driven
* * * * * * * * * * * * * Red Feather Search 9/20/07 9-20-2007 0850 The team was paged to locate a missing 75 year old male who was missing since 1400 on 9-19-2007. 13 SAR members assisted in the search. One Trailing Dog team, one Air Scent Dog team, a Tracking team and two search teams took part in the search. The subject was located deceased on a rock outcropping. After investigations was complete the team evacuated the body. All teams back in town at 1700.
1 Sheriff Department
Deputy
1 Emergency Services
personnel
13 Volunteer SAR members
630 miles total volunteer
miles, 7 personal vehicles 90 miles round
trip
104 total volunteer
man-hours, 8 hours from start to finish
(Janson) Thursday 20 September 2007 – Red Feather Lakes – despondent 75 year old male
Perhaps, as he walked alone on this bright autumn day, the calls and antics of the Steller’s Jays made him smile, as they so often did while at his bird feeders. Everyone else was gone from the house, set amidst the pines near the mountain community of Red Feather Lakes. He had a goal and a mission to accomplish. He carried an essential tool, and though it was a bit heavy for his aging body, he was in no hurry to reach his goal, and so paused to rest often, taking in the sights and sounds for one last time. Indeed, at a large Ponderosa Pine tree that is about 50 feet from his goal, the trackers found evidence that he had paused there, leaning both the tool and himself against the trunk, perhaps to gather strength from the mighty tree for the final climb to his goal, a cherished space amongst the hill of rocks before him. Perhaps it was nearing sunset – the view from his cherished space expands from east to south to west – one last sunset before the blessed peace that would soon be his – no more torments from the myriad ailments that had wracked his body for the last decade. Searchers found his lifeless body the next morning, and after the obligatory coroner’s investigation of the unattended death, they gently removed him from that cherished space, consigning the body to the grieving family.
The call from the family that he was missing had come to the Sheriff’s Office the night of Wednesday 19 September 2007. It was assigned to the mountain deputy, Edward-23, whose investigation revealed that the missing person was potentially suicidal, and that certain personality traits might cause him to pose a danger to the volunteer searchers. The Emergency Services personnel were notified, and concurred with the decision to delay fielding the SAR team until the next morning. The family had been searching throughout the evening, and would continue to do so.
At 08:50 Thursday 20 September 2007 the duty SAR Manager was paged to call Tony Simons, Ocean-3, regarding a search for a despondent 75 year old male who was last seen at about 14:00 on Wednesday. Thirteen members responded, including two dogs. The deceased subject was located by one of the search teams at about 12:34, and the mountain deputy, Edward-19 this time, was on scene at about 12:37. The coroner’s investigation was completed by about 15:00, and all resources were back in town by about 17:00.
1 Sheriff’s Office mountain deputy 1 Emergency Services Specialist 13 LCSAR members, with 2 dogs 630 total volunteer miles (7 personal vehicles at nominal 90 miles round trip) 104 total volunteer hours (8 hours from start to finish) * * * * * * * * * * * * * SAND CREEK SEARCH, Sept 16/17 2007
Initial page: to SAR manager at 2229 hours on
Sept 16, 2007 * * * * * * * * * * * * * 9-11-2007 1515 Team paged to respond emergency for a carry out of a bow hunter in the Rawahs up West Branch Trail who had severely lacerated his leg. While units were in route, Greeley Air-Life was able to land close to the subject, package and transport to Medical Center of the Rockies. Once Flight Medics were on scene with the patient, SAR was stood down. All SAR units were back in town by 1645.
1 Medical Helicopter 4 Larimer County Fire Crew members 1 Larimer County Sheriff - Emergency Services Specialist 14 Larimer County SAR members 672 total miles, 12 personal vehicles 56 miles round trip (estimated) 21 total volunteer man-hours SAR Manager: Mark Sheets * * * * * * * * * * * * *
9-9-2007 1510 Team paged to respond non-emergency for a carry out of an injured 8yo female who was thrown from a horse in Southern Lory State Park. SAR was asked to stage at Towers Road off Minuteman Drive in Northern Horsetooth Mtn Park as the subject could be accessed by vehicle except for the last 100 yards. Poudre Fire Authority and PVH Ambulance responded to the South end of Lory State Park and decided they could handle the carry out with their personnel and Lory State Park Rangers that were on scene. SAR was not fielded. All teams back in town at 16:10
3 Larimer County Parks Rangers Unknown number of responders from Lory State Park side 1 Larimer County Sheriff - Emergency Services Specialist 16 Larimer County SAR members 448 total miles, 16 personal vehicles 28 miles round trip 16 total volunteer man-hours SAR Manager: Mark Sheets
* * * * * * * * * * * * * 5 September, 2007
Summary: Second Ops period, Terry and Marion Jones search Larimer County Search and Rescue
Ops: Mark S. IC Kevin J.
Ops location: Long Draw Rd / Peterson Lake Rd intersection.
Team 1 [Dave H, Doug G] Inserted at the end of Crown Point Road at the Zimmerman Trail, searched and cut for sign South on Zimmerman Trail to the Flowers Trail. Went West on Flowers Tr. To intersection of Mirror Lake Trail then back to the East on Flowers to the Cabin Trail intersection in Section 8. Returned to vehicle at the insertion point via Zimmerman Trail. Was unable to debrief Team 1 in person due to geographical separation.
Team 2 [Alan W, Robin B – Rosie, Air Scent Dog with scent article] Inserted at Peterson Lake, walked SE to the Big South Trail, then South on Big South Trail (West side of creek). Rosie showed some interest at Camp #17 at UTM 358/882 but was insufficient to follow up. Proceeded South on Big South to Corral Creek Trail. Recovered by L-1 in vehicle and transported to the Gate of Cow Camp on Long Draw Road. Walked from there back to ICP on Long Draw road with winds coming from down the road - No interest. POD = 50% 100 yards either side of the their trail. Team 2 debriefed by OPS.
Team 3 [Robin A, Larry S, Toss Air Scent Dog with scent article] Inserted at Peterson Lake, walked SE to the Big South Trail, then South on Big South Trail (West side of creek). Toss had mild interest at Camp #17. Proceeded South on Big South to Poudre River Trail then up Hague Creek to Hague Creek Campground. Searched the South side of the campground extensively. Proceeded up-valley to Resolution and Flatiron campsites. No interest in the valley at all. Started up Mummy Pass Trail a way then got recalled. Walked out to Corral Creek and met OPS at the Ranger’s Cabin. Team 3 debriefed by OPS.
Team 4 [Darryl T, Paul B, (RP that sighted subjects on Sunday, 9/2)] Started at Peterson Lake and proceed to PLS at UTM 340/896. Searched while cutting for sign South on Big South Trail. Intercepted 4 friends of the Jones’ that were searching on their own. Searched the East-Facing slope up to high point 10742 in section 36 (UTM 351/867) Headed down hill, straight south to intersect the Corral Creek Trial. Ended at Corral Creek Ranger Station. Team 4 was debriefed by OPS.
Team 5 [Denise A, Chad K] Inserted at Peterson Lake, crossed Big South at Flowers Trail then East on Flowers to Mirror Lake Trail. Continued South, up Mirror Lake Trail until recalled. Did not complete Mirror Lake Trail due to recall. Recovered to Peterson Lake via same route in.
Team 6 [Josh C, Dave F] Inserted at Peterson Lake, headed up Bid South then up the drainage the leads South through the middle of section 36. Then West to the high points near UTM 348/872. Heavy trees with lots of downfall. Topped out at high point 10742 then over to high point 10900 then North to UTM 340/872. Descended the re-entrant drainage that leads back to middle of section 36, then back to Peterson Lake on the Big South trail. Est POD = 20% of route covered. Team 5 was debriefed by OPS.
RMNP Team 1 [Unknown members – qty 6] Walked the subjects intended route, starting at the Chapin Pass Trail Head and walked down-stream along Cache La Poudre to Big South, Continued down Big South, covering both sides from that point on. Recovered by OPS at Peterson Lake. POD = 70% within 100 feet of trail walked. RMNP Team was debriefed by OPS.
Comments: Triangular area bound by Hwy-14, Big South and North of Barnes Meadow Reservoir including high points 9401, 9634, 9435, 9986 and 9750 should be high priority for next Ops period. Suggest that the high points South of Barnes Meadow and North of today’s ICP be considered as second priority. Third priority should be the Zimmerman Trail, North from the Crown Point parking area. * * * * * * * * * * * * * 4 September, 2007 // Summary: First Ops period, Terry and Marion Jones search Larimer County Search and Rescue Ops: Sarah B. Also present for first half of day: Justin W, Kevin J from S.O. Ops location: Big South trailhead (highway 14), then moved to Joe Wright Reservoir parking lot (highway 14) in attempt to get better radio coverage. Area had received significant rain in the last 24-48 hours. Team 1 [Scott E, Mike E, Merlin (air scent dog)] No scent article, so Merlin just working in ‘find anyone out there’ mode. Inserted at Corral Creek trailhead off of Long Draw Road. Proceeded east on Corral Creek trail to intersection w/Big South-Poudre River trail. South on Poudre River trail to Mummy Pass trail. East to trail spur which goes to camp sites (Desolation Peak, Deadman, Flatiron). Merlin showed much ground interest at Deadman camp site, indicating that someone had camped there recently. Met with RMNP ranger 421(?) Jim. Proceeded back to Poudre River/Big South trail and headed North toward Peterson Lake. Checked campsites #16 – 20 along Big South trail. Met teams 2 and 3 at Peterson Lake and exited field. No significant clues. Cutting for sign and using loud attraction the whole time. Poudre river is easily crossed if necessary. Team 2 [Doug G, Jeff G] Inserted at Peterson Lake, off of Long Draw Road. Cut for sign in vicinity of Peterson Lake (several trails around it and between it and river). Proceeded to river. Met two backpackers who had been on Big South trail since Saturday (with two dogs) and not seen anyone. They had begun and were ending at Peterson Lake. Cutting for sign, using loud attraction, and headed north along unofficial trail on west side of Poudre (hikers from south often don’t know they have to cross to east side at some point to pick up the Big South trail, and continue on west side of river, eventually getting ‘cliffed-out’ farther north.) Continued north along west side of Poudre. One possible clue found at UTM 320 920: partial, fresh wrapper from snack bar of some sort. Wrapper has red, green, cream colors, with green circle in corner containing the words “Smart Choices Made Easy” within it. Occasional, indistinct sign, otherwise. At UTM 320 925 could not continue any farther north due to cliffs, and turned around. Returned to Peterson Lake and exited field. Team 3 [Lee L, Jose N] Inserted at Big South trailhead. Proceeded south on trail, checking campsites #1-16, cutting for sign, using loud attraction. Cleared Big South trail to intersection with Flowers Trail. Found sign (indistinct) at junction of Big South and Flowers trail. Cleared a short way up Flowers Trail. Crossed Poudre River and met teams 1 and 2 at Peterson Lake, exiting field. General Comments: All the above trails were easy to follow, not dangerous. Air scent dog not an efficient tool in the dense timber with no breeze and no scent article. River could be easily crossed in many locations. All of the above trails can be considered cleared for now and not in need of additional resources in 2nd Ops.* * * * * * * * * * * * * Sunday Sept 2nd 16:00 SAR team paged for possible carryout of a 13 YOA child who fell from the top of Horsetooth falls into a spot where they couldn't go up or down. We were going to be on standby at the Trail head and wait to see if Poudre Fire Authority who was already in route needed any help. Subject was evacuated by PFA from the Falls and subject walked out. Sar Team was stood down 16:22
10 SAR members were in route
or at the staging area. - -Dave Hake
* * * * * * * * * * * * * 8-20-2007 09:00, Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP) called to see if we could assist them in a carryout of a 48 YOA female who fell yesterday afternoon just past the Keyhole on the Long's Peak Trail. 10 LCSAR members responded with one of them being a Physician to assist with the medical on the subject. Subject was raised 200 ft. to the False Keyhole then lowered 500 ft. to the Boulder field where she was carried to the Landing Zone for Fight for Life to transport her to Upper Beaver meadows. Our team members were almost to the landing zone to assist in a long carry out if the helicopter was unable to transport. A couple team members made it to assist in the carry to the LZ and assist with medical. All Team members were back in Town at 20:00. * * * * * * * * * * * * * 8-14-07 08:08 Sar Manager group received page to send a couple trackers to assist Mountain Deputy in a possible search for subject who reportedly ran from a roll over crash sight. Supposedly there were a total of 3 in the vehicle. The other 2 were taken to the hospital. The only requested 2 trackers at this time to limit exposure in an unknown situation as to whether or not the subject was armed. The car was towed, and no scent article for dogs and again to limit exposure they decided not to call dogs in at that time. We requested one more tracker and it was approved. We cut for sign with Mountain Deputy covering us and found fireman tracks going up the hill and a few that we couldn't determine if they were fireman or the subject.
As we were working it, we
received call from dispatch saying the two subjects
in the hospital admitted there wasn't a third and
that they were trying to get out of a DUI charge.
Search was called off around 11:00
No all team page was ever put out
due to the limited request. - -Dave Hake
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
30-JUL-07 : 00:15 hrs. Report of a female overdue from a Dirt Bike ride in the area West of Eaton Reservoir. SAR personnel responded to the area and started searching the many Forest Service roads and the logging spur roads. The 22 yo female went for a short ride after dinner. She was with her boyfriend and his mother on a visit to the boyfriend's parents cabin located on CR-80C. Her boyfriend said that she was going to ride for about 30 minutes that started at 18:30 but worried that if she stalled the motorcycle or crashed, she would most likely not be able to re-start the motorcycle as the kick starter is very hard to crank. He started to the motorcycle for her before the ride. Her intentions were to ride Forest Service road 336 (Sand Creek Pass Road) and be back to the cabin before dark since dirt bikes do not have headlights.
SAR searched all night and found many Solo motorcycle tracks on 336, Deadman Road as well as many other forest service roads. She had driven all over in a large area. The mother and the son had been out all night, running roads looking for the girl and had covered many roads before we arrived to search.
After taking inventory of what roads had been searched, it was decided that FS-212 had not had anyone on it. One team that was in an area that had no sign of motorcycle tracks were reassigned to Road 212 and eventually encountered the missing subject. She had wrecked on the motorcycle and was unable to restart it. She abandoned the motorcycle and attempted to walk out to a main road before dark but nightfall happened. She decided to build a fire (she had cigarettes and a lighter with her) in the middle of an intersection and wait out the night. The subject was located around 07:15 on 30-JUL-07. The locating team had a pickup and was able to go to where she left the motorcycle, load it in the pickup and drive back to the ICP. A different team had located her fire, still in embers and extinguished the remains thoroughly.
All units were back in Ft Collins by 10:30. - -Mark A. Sheets
Mission Statistics Vehicles: 7-FWD, 2 ATV’s Total miles: 770miles (figured from the cache) Personnel: 14-SAR, 1-ES, 1 – Resource Team Member Total Hours: 160 * * * * * * * * * * * * * 3:49 PM Monday, July 23 SAR manager page: SAR manager on call, pls. call Tony Simons ref. a couple of lost hikers he's working on. Two hikers, a 34 yoa male (Noel) and a 29 yoa female (Ashley) had called 911----they thought they were in the Hewlett Gulch area, but were lost. Before their cell connection was lost they were able to tell dispatch that they'd seen a sign which to go straight for the loop trail. Also that they had a black Subaru Forester, the woman was wearing a white tank top, and that they were out of water. Because of the Phase 2-type cell phone it didn't automatically give their geographic coordinates, and dispatch forgot to 'ping' their phone, so we knew their call had gone through the tower near the Graves Dairy (on the flats not far below Ted's Place) but we didn't know where they'd called from. Dispatch was working on getting Verizon to give us the location of their phone, and repeated calls back to the subjects couldn't get through. Since we didn't know where their vehicle was Tony just wanted to get a small group of us prepared so we could respond if/when their vehicle was found (so we'd have a place to start). So I sent out the first page ref. needing searchers, trackers and a trailing dog for the *possible* search in Hewlett Gulch area, and that we wouldn't know for sure if it's a go until the vehicle is found. The only loop trail Tony and I knew of in the Hewlett Gulch area was the loop created by the two Grey Rock trails, so we thought they might have tried to do that loop but gotten off the trail somewhere and maybe ended up in Hewlett as so many of our Grey Rock subjects have. Tony started up the canyon to see if their vehicle was at Grey Rock or Hewlett Gulch, and shortly after that asked us to follow, to at least get us going up in that direction. So I sent out a second page asking for the 10 folks who Eric (the In Town Coordinator) had spoken with, to proceed to the cache. Dispatch then was able to get the lat/long coordinates of their call, Tony plotted them back at the cache, he and Dave H. got a good aerial photo and map of the area, and it showed them on the large loop trail off of the main Hewlett Gulch trail. Most of us hadn't realized there was any trail off of there! By this time we had more than enough folks at the cache,
for what appeared like it would be a simple walk up the
trail to say hi to these folks, give 'em some water and
food, and walk 'em out. My apologies to those who were on
the ITC list who arrived after we left the cache. There were
several folks there who hadn't been on the ITC's list, and
more than enough, so a few stayed back and the rest of us
headed up the canyon. Dave stayed at the cache (with cell
phone coverage) to keep trying to reach the subjects and ask
them to stay put and let them know we're on the way. At the Hewlett Gulch trailhead there were two black Subaru Foresters, side by side. One with CA plates and one with temp plates. Tony knew theirs was the one with temp plates. Dan was able to have Bear scent off of the car, and they and the following folks headed up the trail at 5:41 PM: Evans, Borowski, Jordan (Sandy was the only person who'd been on the loop trail before), Chapel, Kline, Lang. 40 minutes later, hen the group got to the intersection of the main trail and the lower end of the loop trail (at UTM 734 069) Kline, Lang and Borowski continued north on the main trail and the rest headed west on the loop. About 2 minutes after that Dispatch called to tell me the subjects had found a residence and were OK, and were going to get a ride back to their vehicle. The residence they'd found was at 1111 Gordon Creek Lane, which was at approx. mile marker 3.5 off the Hewlett Gulch Road, which comes off of CR 74E (up near the east end of Glacier View). All SAR members were out of the field by 7:18 PM. Dan and Bear and I waited for the subjects to return to their vehicle, so Bear could 'finish' with them and I could speak with them. Apparently they'd gone all the way north and started the loop from there (going counter-clockwise) but when they got in the vicinity of where they'd called from there were several trails going in different directions and they didn't know which way to go---tried several and kept having to backtrack. They stayed there a while, then Noel decided that rather than die of thirst where they were he'd rather die trying to get back to water, so they started back (clockwise). At the very north end of the loop they found an abandoned house, then another inhabited house (with horses, so they knew there had to be water). The resident arrived back just minutes after they arrived, gave them cookies and water and they called a friend to come get them and she called 911 to let them know they were ok. Ashley had actually been on the Hewlett Gulch trail before, though it was not ever clear to me whether she'd been on the loop part of it before. She said she didn't know if it was a good or a bad sign, but somewhere along the way she'd begun 'singing a happy song to herself'-----I told her that that positive attitude has saved many a person in dire straits. Noel asked whether the moisture inside a prickly pear cactus was ok for humans to drink-----I knew folks ate them cooked but wasn't sure if they were ok uncooked, though some animals eat them that way.. Ashley was very concerned about the 'poop' they saw everywhere, so we went over the very, very low liklihood that any mountain lion or bear would ever bother them if they stayed together and sounded like humans. They had had only one camelback bladder and two small bottles between them, for that long hike on a very hot day, but they were ok now w/more water and food on board. They sent their thanks and their apologies for 'bothering' us all (I explained that hey, it was still daylight and they were both OK so we were all pleased!) and headed on their way. I left the trailhead at 7:50 PM. Many thanks to: D. Chandler, C. Kline, T. Westfall, L. Lang, D. Borowski, T. Chapel, S. Evans, D. Grimm, D. Fanning and Bear, D. Frank, D. Hake, S. Jordan, A. Patterson, E. Houck!!!!! Good job, folks. Thanks! -
-Sarah * * * * * * * * * * * * * Saturday 7/21/2007 4:45 PM SAR manager page: SAR manager, pls. call Tony (Ocean 3) re. missing person. I put out the page to the team and got on the road. There is a family camping up on FS road # 343 (which goes off of the Old Flowers Rd. about 5 miles up from the Stove Prairie Road). The father, 60 and severely asthmatic according to the reporting party, had left around 1:30 PM for what he said would be about an hour's walk. Due to his severe asthma (and the RP said he didn't have his medication with him) and his bad knee and the fact that a thunderstorm had just gone through the area, Tony decided to have us respond emergent to the area. I was just approaching Rist Canyon when 900 let Tony know that the RP had called back and their father had returned and was fine. Many thanks to all who responded. Dispatch said there were 6
on the phone-in counter, and I was aware of 6 others of us who
called on the radio, for a total of 12. I have: Frank, Hake,
Negron (w/truck 10 and trailer), Evans, Daniel and Babbitt
having called in on the radio. If you called the counter or you
called on the radio and I missed you, please let me know that
you were responding. I think I'll leave my magnetic logos on my car doors for
now...
- -Sarah * * * * * * * * * * * * * Saturday 7/21/2007 5:15 AM SAR manager page to call Tony ( Ocean 3). There had been two friends prospecting up in the vicinity of the Killpecker Trailhead on Friday. One (who lives in Glacier View) last saw his buddy at about 2 in the afternoon and the other (from Denver) never made it home that night. Tony was giving us a "heads up" that we might be needed. The friend was headed up to see if the missing person's vehicle was still there, and Tony was headed up as well. We were thinking that if the vehicle was still there w/o him in it we'd start w/a dog team and a couple of relatively hasty teams to start a scan of the area. They'd been working on a 'steep and rocky hillside', according to the Glacier View party----perhaps he'd gotten injured and couldn't get to the car. Or maybe he'd just gotten disoriented and would figure things out and come out with first light, like so many of our hunter subjects. The Glacier View friend had a UTM fix on the main area where they'd been looking----it was basically between the Pearl Beaver Road and the Killpecker Trailhead (as was their car). Anyway, about an hour later Tony reached the vehicle about the same time that the subject was reaching it. Apparently he'd gotten disoriented and caught by the dark so hunkered down for the night and started moving again with daylight, and self-recovered. So, no search this morning... But who knows what the weekend holds?!?!? - -:) Sarah * * * * * * * * * * * * * RAWAH WILDERNESS MISSION Friday, June 22, 2007 82 year old Walter and his dog Taffy are camping
at Brown's Park campground, on the east edge of the Rawah Wilderness,
about 18 miles up the Laramie River Road and a couple miles south
of Glendevey. On Thursday 21 June he decides to hike the
Link Trail up to the McIntyre Burn area (if I recall correctly, it
burned in the late 1800's). The display board at the trailhead has
the following information about the Link Trail: 8.8 miles one way to
Rawah Trail, elevation start 8433 feet, elevation net gain 2300
feet; rated difficult. At 10:00 Walter signs in at the trail
register, noting he'll be back in the afternoon, hiking the Link
Trail, and is camped at site 23. He is the only one listed on
the register for the 21st, and everyone on the list for the prior week
shows that they signed out, most listing the time they returned.
(I took a photo of the register.) Walter and Taffy make it to the edge of the burn area, and shortly after begin the return hike. Walter wears a small day pack which contains a jacket, water and food, a trash bag and some other items. About four months prior he'd had his right hip replaced, and during the downhill walking it is starting to bother him. He decides to stop and rest by sitting on a large rock and eat lunch. He had a bit of trouble while standing up, and some distance later stumbles and falls on the trail, dislocating his hip in the process. He is unable to get back up, and prepares himself to wait for help by donning his jacket and making the trash bag into an overgarment. Taffy helps by laying down atop Walter. Fortunately, the weather is benign, and remains so during the night. Simultaneously on Thursday, 62 year old Richard has stopped at the
Stub Creek Ranger Station, which is about a mile before the
Brown's Park campground. He is talking with the three Forest
Service volunteers about local hiking trails and attractions, one
of which is the Big McIntyre Burn. He sets up his camper in
the campground and reads the brochures they gave him. At 08:25 on
Friday morning he signs in at the Link-McIntyre trail register listing
his activity as a day hike on the Link Trail. Richard's
entry is on the line directly under Walter's entry. * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Saturday 7/21/2007 4:45 PM SAR manager page:
SAR manager, pls. call Tony (Ocean 3) re. missing person. I put
out the page to the team and got on the road.
There is a family camping up on FS road # 343 (which goes off of the Old Flowers Rd. about 5 miles up from the Stove Prairie Road). The father, 60 and severely asthmatic according to the reporting party, had left around 1:30 PM for what he said would be about an hour's walk. Due to his severe asthma (and the RP said he didn't have his medication with him) and his bad knee and the fact that a thunderstorm had just gone through the area, Tony decided to have us respond emergent to the area. I was just approaching Rist Canyon when 900 let Tony know that the RP had called back and their father had returned and was fine. Many thanks to all who responded. Dispatch said there were 6
on the phone-in counter, and I was aware of 6 others of us who
called on the radio, for a total of 12. I have: Frank, Hake,
Negron (w/truck 10 and trailer), Evans, Daniel and Babbitt
having called in on the radio. If you called the counter or you
called on the radio and I missed you, please let me know that
you were responding. I think I'll leave my magnetic logos on my car doors for now... - -Sarah * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Montgomery Pass SAR Synopsis 1/2/07 Mark Sheets –SAR Manager Larimer County SAR (map below)
On 12/24/06, Trish, a 40-year old Longmont resident told a girlfriend that she intended to go skiing by herself on Christmas Day. Trish did not indicate where she intended to ski. Sometime after the 25th (I believe the 30th) Trish was reported overdue by concerned family members to the Longmont Police Dept. The police put out a “Be On The Lookout” (BOLO) bulletin to surrounding law enforcement agencies but evidently it did not go out to Larimer County until 12/31/06. Her vehicle was located by a Larimer Deputy Sheriff at the Zimmerman Lake Trail Head on 1/1/07. Her vehicle appeared to have been there since the 25th.
It was known that Trish owned two sets of skis, one a Touring model and the other Telemark model. Her Touring Skis were present in her car along with her purse, an ice axe and car keys along with some other articles of insignificance. By the time the SAR Manager got up to the car on 1/1/07, it was around 17:30 hours and dark. LCSO-ES and LCSAR decided to come back to town and plan for the next day’s operational period.
In the early evening of 1/1/06, a some Diamond Peaks Ski Patrollers posted a note on powderbuzz.com, a skiing enthusiasts website describing the missing subject and requested anyone with knowledge to contact LCSO.
Plans were made to search both sides of the road although the terrain that is more suitable for Telemark Skis was a higher priority. By the next morning, a powderbuzz.com lead came in stating that they saw the missing subject at 14:15 hours on 12/25/06, about 3/4 the way up the Montgomery Pass Trail when they visited a short while. Trish indicated she was going up to “make a few turns” then call it a day. The reporting party continued on down to the parking lot where they noticed only their car and Trish’s car remaining. Trish’s ex-husband who has skied with her a lot said her favorite place to Ski was Montgomery Pass.
With these two reports, we decided to not search the Zimmerman side since she was most likely on the other side where the bowls are.
On 1/2/07 at 09:02, 12 LCSAR members, two dogs and 6 Diamond Peaks Ski Patrollers set out to search a fairly large area with a strategy of searching areas that consisted of good Telemark Skiing. Also, many recreators had skied the trails since the 25th so the trails were pretty low probability since she had not been discovered by anyone sine then.
It is known that many skiers enjoy skiing straight down Montgomery Creek and then pop back onto the trail where the creek intersects the trail. There are many other drainages that are attractive to ski.
Most of the Ski Patrol assignments started up in the bowls and continued down into the trees part-way. The LCSAR folks on snowshoes were assigned to start in the middle of the various segments and clear the area back to Hwy-14.
A snowshoe team containing of a tracker was going up-trail and cutting out at 90 degree angles to cut for sign between Montgomery Creek and the Pass Trail. After making a few cuts with negative results, that team finally acquired a single ski track that appeared to be of proper age. The tracks were right in the Montgomery Creek drainage. They continued to track and at 10:35 they came upon two ski poles sticking straight up. A cursory survey the area revealed a tree well that appeared to contain a rudimentary snow cave. They noticed Skis in the tree well and Ski Boots inside the cave along with a space blanket. After searching the surrounding area, the team uncovered the buried body of Trish, she was totally buried by recent snowfall and was approximately 10 feet away.
It is unknown when Trish died and why she was unable to continue to ski out although she may have gotten wet from falling into the tree well and possibly breaking through the ice below in the creek or she may have foundered with an injury. It is also possible that nightfall fell upon her and she may have simply hunkered down. The coroner will be performing an autopsy.
I would like to say thank you to those who responded to this call. It was beginning to take shape of a large search such as the recent Mt Hood incident but with a great team effort from Larimer County Search & Rescue, Diamond Peaks Ski Patrol and Larimer County Sheriff’s Dept. we were able to locate Trish only 1.5 hours after fielding.
Location: Trish was found approximately 1/3 mile from the road. She was so close to being out.
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