A single text reading "please help me" set off one of the more dramatic rescues in the Colorado high country this autumn. On October 30, a 37-year-old hiker backpacking solo on the Four Pass Loop was caught out by an early-season storm: temperatures in the teens (Fahrenheit) and snow deep enough to reach her thighs and hips. With her phone battery down to 10 percent, she managed to reach 911 by text before contact dropped entirely, leaving emergency services with one lone coordinate.
The Four Pass Loop is no casual stroll. The 27-mile circuit through the Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness near Aspen and Crested Butte climbs roughly 8,000 feet, and most people take two to four days to hike it. It's normally a summer and early-autumn trip, and this rescue is a stark reminder of how quickly conditions flip in late October.
Crested Butte Mountain Rescue sent teams in from two directions. A CareFlight of the Rockies helicopter spotted the hiker around 11 p.m. as she tried to climb over Frigid Air Pass, but steep, snowy slopes and darkness made landing impossible and avalanche danger too high for rescuers to descend. The first two rescuers on foot reached the pass but wisely held off until the full team arrived around 5:30 a.m.
When rescuers finally descended 300 to 400 feet to reach her, the picture was grim: the hiker could no longer walk, had cold-related injuries and was showing signs of hypothermia. Ground extraction wasn't realistic, so the Colorado Search and Rescue Association called in the Colorado Army National Guard, which flew a UH-60 Black Hawk from Gypsum. A rescue tech was lowered to the pair, and both were hoisted aboard. The hiker was flown to the UCHealth Burn and Frostbite Center in Aurora for treatment, and the National Guard returned to lift out the remaining rescuers, since conditions on the pass were still too dangerous to walk out.
Rescue teams used the incident to underscore a simple point: pack for the season you might encounter, not the one you hoped for. CBMR's own advice was to throw an extra puffy jacket in the pack. It was a punishing week for the team, who responded to three callouts in the same stretch, two of them fatal. For anyone eyeing a late-season backpacking trip in the Rockies, the takeaway is clear — check forecasts, carry enough insulation for a night out, keep devices charged, and know that a text to 911 can work where a call won't, but only if you have battery left to send it.
