Chaffee County Search and Rescue volunteers were instrumental in rescuing injured hikers in two major operations on Saturday.
In the first mission, the Chaffee County Sheriff’s Office was notified at about 8am that a hiker on La Plata Peak had activated an emergency beacon indicating that he was in distress, suffering from chest pains.
SAR volunteers located the hikers’ vehicle at the La Plata Peak trailhead near Winfield and a rescue mission was mounted. Meanwhile, two other hikers, both medical doctors, happened onto the victim. Suspecting a heart condition, they stayed with the hiker and administered first aid. Flight For Life was summoned and arrived at a nearby landing zone at about 12:30pm. Medical personnel and volunteers reached the victim on foot and were able to evacuate him to the helicopter. He was airlifted to Saint Anthony Hospital in Lakewood.
The injured hiker was identified as 61-year-old John Miller of Littleton. He had been hiking with his brother, Duncan Miller, 56, of Evergreen.
The identities of the two doctors who assisted Mr. Miller are unknown.
In the second incident, the sheriff’s office received a call around 12:30pm Saturday about another injured hiker, this one on Grizzly Peak. The caller, Gary Fannin, 43, from Erie, Colorado, said that he and his friend, Shawn Erickson,42, a Fort Collins resident, were hiking on the east face of the peak at about 13,000 feet elevation when Erickson fell about fifty feet down a slope, sustaining injuries to his leg, chest, and head. Fannin, unable to assist his friend, went for help, reaching Twin Lakes where he called 911. Chaffee County SAR and Chaffee County EMS met him at Twin Lakes and all proceeded to the La Plata trailhead in Lake County near Independence Pass, the most accessible route to the injured victim whose location was actually within Chaffee County.
SAR, EMS, and Fannin were aided at the trailhead by two unidentified Buena Vista ATV riders who loaned their machines to the rescuers for the ascent which they began at about 2pm. A second Flight For Life helicopter was summoned and landed in a meadow nearby the victim at about 240pm.
At about 3pm, the Flight for Life flight nurse and members of SAR and EMS begin hiking in from the helicopter to the victim, reaching him about 40 minutes later. He was conscious and was transported from the accident scene and reached the helicopter at about 6pm. He was airlifted to a Colorado Springs hospital. His condition is not known at this time.
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