Guy’s coworkers left him behind on a 14,000-foot Colorado mountain
Aug 28, 2024, 3:00 PM | Updated: Aug 29, 2024, 8:25 am
Tell me everyone at work hates you, without telling me they hate you: 15 coworkers scaled a mountain in Colorado last Friday as part of a team-building exercise, apparently. And one guy got left behind.
Mount Shavano is 100 miles southwest of Denver. he summit is over 14,000 feet, but not everyone did the whole thing. A few people hung back, so there were two groups… except for one guy who ended up doing the last leg himself.
He made it to the top fine, but got lost on his way down after everyone left and took all their gear with them. They’d left stuff along the path to guide them back like a trail of breadcrumbs. But they took it all with them when they left.
He made it to the top around 11:30 A.M., then got turned around. So he dropped a pin, texted it to his coworkers, and they told him he was going the wrong way.
He sent another pin-drop at 3:50 P.M., and he was going the right way at that point. But then a big STORM hit, with high winds and freezing rain.
He got disoriented in the storm, which also cut off his cell service. But his coworkers either didn’t know, or didn’t care, and no one told search-and-rescue until 9:00 P.M.
They would have tried using drones to find him, but they couldn’t make it that far up the mountain in bad weather. Plus, he was in all black clothing, which would have been impossible to spot.
Luckily, he’s okay. He got cell service back around 10:00 A.M. the next day and called 911. By the time they found him, he’d been on the mountain for over 24 hours and couldn’t walk. He told them he’d fallen “at least 20 times.”
They stretchered him out and got him to a hospital. They say he’s lucky his phone didn’t die, or they wouldn’t have found him in time.
Search-and-rescue said the story highlights some important lessons: Remember that cell service can be spotty, don’t hike in all-black, if you get turned around, it’s usually best to stay put, and NEVER leave someone behind.
They added that the unfortunate event, “might cause some awkward encounters at the office in the coming days and weeks.”
