Three Mountain Emergencies in 14 Hours Reveal the Perils of Early Snow
Korin Pusillo spent part of her first elk hunt clawing up a mountainside in northwest Colorado on her hands and knees.
It was October 14, and Pusillo, 39, was in Bears Ears, a remote area near Steamboat Springs. Rain had soaked the ground before turning to snow, leaving slick mud beneath the fresh accumulation. Every attempt to climb sent her sliding backward.
“Everything changed so fast. It was hard to get our bearings, and I think even experienced hunters would have been surprised by how quickly the weather turned,” Pusillo told Outside.
Pusillo was tracking elk with her boyfriend, his brother, and their father, who had hunted the area for decades. As snow and fog obscured the landscape, and fallen trees blocked familiar routes, the group struggled to find its way back to camp.
“These guys were so confident because they’d hunted the area for years, but when they started losing that confidence, that’s when it got really scary,” Pusillo said. “If these guys are getting worried, I’m getting worried.”
Three Hunter Emergencies in 14 Hours
Pusillo and her party were not alone. Their close call came during a busy stretch for Routt County Search and Rescue, the SAR squad that patrols the area. The volunteer team reported three SOS calls involving hunters within 14 hours on October 14 and 15, as Colorado’s first rifle elk season opened just as the region’s first significant snowfall arrived, according to an October 15 statement on Facebook.
The first call came at 2:59 P.M. on October 14, when rescuers were asked to help find an overdue hunter near Dunckley Pass, a roughly 9,800-foot mountain crossing southwest of Steamboat Springs. With more than six inches of snow already on the ground, Colorado Parks and Wildlife officers and sheriff’s deputies found the hunter shortly after dark.
At 7:43 P.M. another hunter became separated from their group near Bears Ears, about 20 miles north of the town of Hayden. The hunter called 911 just before their cellphone died, providing rescuers with coordinates.
Incident commander John Williams told Outside in an email that snow-covered roads made the drive to the staging area nearly three hours long. Crews then hiked downhill to reach the hunter, who was too cold to walk uphill. Rescuers wrapped the hunter in a hypothermia wrap and, with help from bystanders, hauled them nearly 1,500 feet uphill through eight inches of snow on a wheeled stretcher. Williams believes wet clothing and exhaustion contributed to the separation.
Early October 15, a third hunter suffered serious injuries in a tree strike in the Bears Ears area. A search-and-rescue spokesperson told the Steamboat Pilot & Today that a tree had reportedly fallen on the hunter while they slept in a tent. Other responders transported the hunter for medical treatment.
How Pusillo’s Group Made It Back
Pusillo’s group had considered returning to camp before the storm worsened. But her boyfriend’s father shot a bull elk, and the animal had run downhill into a valley where it died. The group stayed to process the carcass.
As they worked beneath a tarp, the rain turned to large snowflakes. Pusillo estimated that four inches had fallen by the time they began hiking out.
“Our boots were fine and we had ponchos, but we didn’t have waterproof gloves, which would have been good to have, because in some parts, it was so slick that we literally had to crawl up on our hands and knees,” Pusillo said.
The mud beneath the snow made climbing difficult, while fallen trees blocked familiar paths. Her boyfriend’s GPS appeared to malfunction after getting wet, and moisture interfered with his brother’s phone screen , she said. The group briefly lost its way and had to backtrack.
They eventually found their way using a camp-location pin Pusillo had previously shared from her phone. They also followed reflective markers on trees that they spotted with their headlamps. The return took roughly four hours or more.
Despite the conditions, all four made it back to camp without calling for rescue.
“I’m glad my phone didn’t die, because if it had, we might have been the fourth rescue call that night,” Pusillo said.
Preparing for October Hunting Conditions
Forecasters had predicted the snowstorm for Northwestern Colorado. On October 13, the National Weather Service warned of four to eight inches of snow above 9,500 feet and wind gusts up to 35 miles per hour in several western Colorado mountain ranges.
Pusillo said her group had checked a forecast for Craig that predicted rain, but hadn’t anticipated snow at their hunting location.
“We weren’t prepared for snow because we didn’t think it was going to get cold enough to snow,” she said.
In its incident report, Routt County Search and Rescue reminded hunters and other backcountry users to be prepared for all types of conditions this time of year.
“Being prepared in weather conditions like these can be a matter of life or death, and help can be many hours away,” the group wrote.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife advises hunters to monitor mountain forecasts, plan exit routes, and carry equipment for an unexpected overnight stay. The Colorado Search and Rescue Association also recommends backup navigation tools, spare batteries, and agreed-upon check-in plans.
The post Three Mountain Emergencies in 14 Hours Reveal the Perils of Early Snow appeared first on Outside Online.
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