Colorado offers a bounty of spellbinding splendor that beckons the spirit to seek solace and explore. But that allure to wild and often remote places can belie dangers that lead to tragedy.
In a state where high desert, canyons, rocky mesas and talus-strewn plateaus give way to an estimated 550 mountain peaks above 10,000 feet – and 54 that top out at 14,000 feet and higher, it’s no wonder that backcountry visitors and adventurers can find themselves in trouble.
The roughly 50 backcountry search and rescue teams across Colorado respond to a combined 3,000 calls a year, according to the Colorado Search and Rescue Association. Sometimes it’s someone injured in a remote area. Other times it’s someone who has gone missing. Most times – it’s someone ill prepared if things go wrong.
Hunting season, October and November, marks a high point in call-outs to La Plata County search and rescue, according to the team.
A clear truth emerges from the history of backcountry adventure and exploration – most tragedies occur because of a series of seemingly minor mistakes. Adventure writer Tim Cahill refers to those innocuous mistakes as a “foundation of minor errors,” and author Laurence Gonzales, in his book “Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, And Why,” explores how the brain functions during risk-taking and survival situations and writes that “trivial events begin to shape an accident long before it happens.”
Recent high-profile incidents in the greater-Durango area highlight how quickly a simple outing can turn life-threatening. A runner heads into the mountains towering above La Plata Canyon and seemingly disappears. A young man goes for a day hike in the Molas Lake area and vanishes – only his car and phone are found to mark his passage. A young woman sets out on a picture-taking day hike along the Colorado Trail, wanders from the beaten-path and takes a fall that leaves her seriously injured and far from help.
Each of these incidents, which occurred within the last four months, serve to highlight a number of mishaps in the past year in the rugged San Juan Mountains of Southwest Colorado that have called upon search and rescue teams. And each highlights how preparation for even seemingly innocuous forays into the wild – can make all the difference.
“One thing we really want people to be aware of is what we are calling the three Ts,” said Anna DeBattiste, spokeswoman for the CSAR. “We find this to be the simplest way to get people to remember the most important safety messaging.”
The Three Ts:
Trip plan – Tell a reliable person back home where you are going, what trailhead you’ll be parking at, what your intended route is, and when you expect to be back.
Training – Make sure you have the technical skills and physical conditioning for the adventure you’re planning.
Take the essentials – Carry the 10 essentials (see graphic) plus any sport-specific gear you might need.
Preparations take planning, and often times people stop on a whim for a hike or a swim, or a quick photo from a precarious overlook. So while the Three Ts and the 10 essentials set the gold standard – be ready to adapt and improvise. Take water and a jacket if that’s all you have, even if it’s warm and sunny and thirst seems far away. Take a phone.
“Leave a note on your dashboard,” DeBattiste said. “Write down where you plan to go, when you left and when you plan to be back. Any information that can help searchers find you if the need arises.”
Often the final misstep is the decision to push forward when common sense would dictate throwing in the towel and turning back.
“Researchers point out that people tend to take any information as confirmation of their mental models,” Gonzales writes in his book. “Additional stresses or unplanned events make it difficult to think clearly, it’s no wonder that you find it almost hopeless to change the plan or alter your model to fit reality.”
The pressure of schedule is another mentioned by Gonzales: “If everything went just right, it would be fine. The annoying thing about plans is how rare it is for everything to go just right. ... With luck, they calculated that they still might make it to the summit by three. ... Hell, they had to. They’d driven all this way.”
It’s this friction of minor events, a sudden change in weather – which in the Rockies can mean snow, freezing temperatures and even flash floods, a last-minute change in plans, hurry, and a myriad other nuances that left unchecked can lead to disaster.
A climber rescued from El Diente Peak by Dolores County Search and Rescue this summer had all the right gear in his pack. But when a boulder he stood on suddenly broke free and he fell 20 feet to a small ledge, his pack continued down the mountainside. Luckily, he had his phone and a satellite communication device in his pocket and was able to call for help.
“Satellite rescue devices should be essential gear for any backcountry traveler,” Dolores County Search and Rescue Capt. Keith Keesling told The Journal in Cortez at the time. “We spend that much on our jackets and boots. It is standard gear that will save your life and others.”
Which brings into focus the all-volunteer army of search and rescue personal who put their day jobs on hold and their lives on the line to bring people home safe.
“It’s tough on volunteer crews right?” Corkish said. “When you have an eight- to10-hour-a-day job, and you’re searching eight to 10 hours a day, it gets a little thin. It’s unforgiving, that’s for sure.”
An estimated 400,000 man-hours go into the 3,000 call-outs across Colorado each year. And search and rescue team members donate not only their time, but provide their own gear and usually their own fuel to reach incident sites.
La Plata County Search and Rescue averages 65 to 80 “missions” a year, and another 30 that “self-resolve,” Corkish said. The team is comprised of two parts – the search and rescue component, which has 104 volunteers – and the community call center staffed by another 70 volunteers.
The call center is unique to the La Plata County team. It handles public safety issues that cause “undo hardships such as prescribed burns, wildfires, floods, or whatever comes along. The center can be reached at 385-8700.
La Plata County Search and Rescue holds an annual fundraiser, and receives $10,000 a year from the La Plata County Sheriff’s Office, which usually goes toward equipment and training.
For more information, donations, or volunteer possibilities visit laplatasar.org, or coloradosar.org.
gjaros@durangoherald.com
An earlier version of this story misspelled Dolores.
