Woman and Dog Survive After Nightmare Endeavor: 'Miracle' Rescue
Many people travel to Colorado for adventure. There are endless opportunities to experience the outdoors and the natural allure of the state, but it can be as deadly as it is beautiful.
One New Mexico woman and her dog nearly discovered that this week when they got lost while she was back-country skiing in the Grand Mesa area.
Thankfully, the 61-year-old woman, whose name wasn’t released, had told family of her plans before setting out, and when she didn’t get back by the time she said she would, they contacted authorities.
The Mesa County Sheriff’s Office said it got the call at about 9:30 p.m. Tuesday and set out to start the search.
A deputy found the woman’s car parked at the trailhead parking lot, but she and her dog were not with it. Three snowmobile teams with the Mesa County Search and Rescue Snowskipper Team and a Careflight helicopter soon joined the search.
It was a bit of a perfect storm: It was dark outside, fresh snow kept covering everything, and the temperature dropped to about minus-15 degrees.
It was so cold that some of the search team’s electronic equipment started to fail, leading to one searcher getting stranded and needing rescuing themselves.
As the other teams were looking for their stranded member, they found the woman and her dog near the trailhead, hiding out in a dense patch of trees where the helicopter couldn’t spot them.
It was about 4:30 a.m. when she finally was found, and she and her dog both had survived the bitterly cold night in the Colorado back-country. She was treated for exposure, but the sheriff’s office confirmed that both she and her dog were doing well.
With all the extenuating circumstances and conditions that affected the area, search crews said it was a “miracle” that the two survived and that they were found.
The woman did make several crucial decisions that made all the difference to bettering her chances of survival: She told people where she was going and what her timeline was, and she was clearly prepared if she was able to survive through the night in cold temperatures.
The sheriff’s office took the opportunity to remind people that fresh snow can cover trails and landmarks, making it difficult for even those familiar with the area to navigate safely.
About a month earlier, on Jan. 5, the Mesa County Sheriff’s Office said it rescued another woman, 51, and her two dogs after they got lost on the Grand Mesa while she was snowshoeing.
It took over five hours for the teams to locate her, but the search was made easier by the fact that she, too, had prepared by taking a GPS device with her, which led search teams to her.
If you’re ever in back-country areas enjoying the scenery and adventure, make sure you are well-prepared so that if you get lost, you’re more likely to experience a rescue and not a recovery.
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