AVSAR had an opportunity to support SAGSAR when a call came in the evening of Friday May 2nd for two distressed campers near Deadman Lakes in the Sangre de Cristo range. The campers intended to camp for several days, but during their ascent, a combination of injury and acute mountain sickness drove them to use the SOS feature on their Garmin inReach.
AVSAR was in communication with the subjects who were able to build a fire and take shelter for the cold overnight temperatures while rescue teams organized for a mission at first light. AVSAR and SAGSAR sent a ground rescue team by foot on the long trek up the drainage to ensure personnel were en route while coordinators worked with aviation crews to assess the mission.
As the subjects’ condition worsened overnight, the Colorado Army National Guard helicopter was activated through Colorado Search and Rescue to begin an urgent hoist operation.
While the COArNG team was preparing, ground crews continued the hike and REACH71/Guardian1 medical helicopter from GMR in Alamosa assisted by flying into the drainage, verifying the location of the subjects and identifying potential landing zones. Guardian1 crew returned to Incident Command and remained on standby to provide emergency medical support to the subjects.
BACA EMS dispatched a ground ambulance to the IC area and ultimately transported the subjects to San Luis Valley Regional Medical Center for care.
COArNG deployed Talon36 HAATS UH-60 and Rescue Techs to hoist the subjects. At 9:35am on Sat May 3rd, both subjects were transferred to the medical teams awaiting their arrival at IC.
The mission concluded at approximately 10:40am with all team members safe, the subjects in transit to the hospital and the helicopter crews returning to their bases.
We are especially grateful for the hard work and support from:
Alamosa County Sheriff’s Office
Saguache County Search & Rescue
Saguache County Sheriff’s Office
REACH Air Medical Services
BACA Fire/EMS
Eagle Air Med
Colorado Search and Rescue Association – CSAR
Colorado National Guard
Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve
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.