BOULDER COUNTY, Colo. — It’s been a busy holiday weekend for Colorado search and rescue teams as people enjoying our great outdoors get themselves into trouble.
From stuck scramblers to injured mountain bikers, it's been a busy Labor Day Weekend for Boulder's Rocky Mountain Rescue Group, one of the busiest and oldest mountain search and rescue organizations in the country.
Volunteers rescued six people across the Front Range on Saturday and another Sunday, two of which involved helicopter hoist rescues.
Several advanced technical rescues required volunteers to rock climb to the stranded individuals – certainly no easy feat for these search and rescue crews. For context, the organization responds to about 200 calls a year in total.
“This is kind of a pretty high volume for us this time of year, traditionally, but certainly, six rescues in a day matches our record, especially when we had three simultaneous calls going at the same time. We really, really kind of stripped all of our resources,” said spokesperson Drew Hildner.
Hildner is one of the many volunteers ready to go at a moment's notice this Labor Day Weekend. The organization is anticipating more calls through Monday.
“This is good weather. People are wanting to get out, and we encourage people to get out in this nice weather. But to some extent, we noticed that people feel kind of the window of summer starting to close, and so they want to get out, get after things,” said Hildner.
Unfortunately, he added, the eagerness to check off those summer bucket list items can backfire if you're unprepared.
Hildner recommends several things to minimize your risk of needing assistance on your outdoor adventures during Labor Day weekend:
- Do your research.
- Tell people where you're going.
- Carry a communication device.
- Have the equipment and skills to take care of yourself in an emergency.
“We love the outdoors. We want people to go outside. There's so many benefits from going outside and having a good time and even pushing yourself, but just make sure that you do your trip planning, that you have the techniques and skills that match what your goals are,” he said.
