Hikers from NC spend ‘chilly night' trapped at 13,000 feet on Colorado mountain

Miami Herald

3 days ago

A pair of 19-year-old hikers from North Carolina spent the night trapped 13,000 feet up on a Colorado mountain, officials said.
They called 911 just before 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, June 24, from the north face of Capitol Peak, Mountain Rescue Aspen said on its social media accounts.
The teens had reached the mountain's 14,130-foot summit earlier that day, but got stuck in a precarious spot while trying to find a shorter way down, the agency said.
There is no shorter route down, but it's all too common for even experienced hikers to mistake a route for a shortcut, according to several comments on the rescue agency's Facebook post.
'There are no shortcuts on Capitol,' someone said.
Several comments echoed the same sentiment.
'So many people assume from looking down that it's climbable terrain when it's far from!' another person said.
'There is no other shorter or safe route off of Capitol,' someone said. 'They were so fortunate for your rescue efforts in challenging conditions.'
A photo shows the towering peak from a smaller slope below. The mountain is located in the Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness area near Aspen.
The Colorado Fourteeners Initiative calls it 'one of the most difficult and demanding' of the state's highest peaks.
Much of the route is exposed, meaning it exposes hikers to a high risk of injury on steep vertical drops, KDVR reported. The Capitol climbing route is also along 'loose, crumbling rock,' the outlet reported.
'Climbing website 14ers.com rates it at a difficulty level of 4 out of 5, and the (Pitkin County Sheriff's Office) said five people died on the mountain in 2017 alone,' the outlet reported.
'I can see how you can get sucked into going that way because it's briefly 4th class before you end up on 5.7 terrain,' someone said in the comments. 'I climbed the NW Buttress last year and it's a great route, but committing. Retreating that way would be long, difficult and technical with mandatory rappelling.'
Rescuers told the hikers to stay put until rescuers arrived, which wouldn't be until 'sometime early the next morning,' officials said.
'Chilly night up there for those two teens!' someone said. 'At least they knew help was coming.'
At 6 a.m. the next day, a rescue helicopter carrying two hoist-rescue technicians flew toward the peak. The search effort was delayed by a snow shower and lightning for a few minutes, but the crew spotted the teens 'despite the fact the stranded hikers were wearing all black and gray clothing,' rescuers said.
'Please wear bright clothes. You never know when you will need to be located from above,' someone said in the comments.
The rescue helicopter hovered around 13,000 feet as rescue technicians hoisted each hiker one at a time off the cliff, officials said.
The teens were evaluated by medical personnel at a landing field before they were released, rescuers said.
'Capitol is the LAST place you'd even think about short-cutting,' someone said in the comments. 'Two VERY lucky 19 yos.'
Capitol Peak is about a 140-mile drive southwest from Denver.