On the morning of June 5th, AVSAR was contacted to assist Costilla County in rescuing an injured climber near the summit of Mt. Lindsey. The climber had fallen several hundred feet after a boulder gave way while the climber was ascending the northwest ridge approach of the peak. AVSAR was able to establish contact with the climber and determined that due to injury severity and inclement weather, a helicopter extract would be required.
AVSAR immediately began gathering team members and requesting air assets to assist in the mission. Team members met REACH 71 at the Mt. Blanca helipad at 12:00pm. Due to limited space in the helicopter, REACH could only insert one AVSAR team member to extract the climber. Concerns were raised regarding the ability of the helicopter to depart the upper basin with the full crew, climber, and the AVSAR team member due to weather conditions. It was decided that, should the helicopter not be able to ascend from the upper basin with everyone, the AVSAR team member would stay behind and either await later extraction by REACH 71 or descend the trail back to the Lily Lake trailhead.
At approximately 1:05pm, REACH 71 departed the Mt Blanca helipad with the AVSAR team member, while a second team member began driving to the Lily Lake trailhead in Huerfano County. Additional AVSAR team members remained on standby at Incident Command in the event that ground insertions would be necessary. At approximately 1:20pm, contact was made with the climber by the helicopter team. By 1:40pm, REACH 71 was headed back to the helipad with both the subject and the AVSAR team member.
At the helipad, REACH 71 and AVSAR’s medical lead assessed the climber’s condition and it was determined that transfer to a local hospital by EMS would be appropriate due to the nature of the injuries. The climber was then transferred to the hospital in Alamosa by ambulance. The mission was concluded at 3:00pm.
AVSAR is incredibly grateful for the hard work and support from:
Alamosa County Sheriff’s Office
Costilla County Sheriff’s Office
Huerfano County Sheriff’s Office
Colorado State Patrol
REACH Air Medical Services
Eagle Air Med
Alamosa County Ambulance District
If you would like to purchase official AVSAR gear to help support our missions, visit our friends at Kristi Mountain Sports, LLC here in Alamosa.