Zola the dog plunges off Colorado peak. A teary reunion came eight hours later

When rescuers responding to a 911 call about a fallen dog on a Colorado peak arrived, the owners didn’t know if their 3-year-old Aussiedoodle named Zola had survived.

“There was definitely a part of them that was probably preparing for the worst,” Jake Smith of the Alpine Rescue Team told Vail Daily. He described them as “pretty somber.”

Zola plummeted about 600 feet down a sheer face on Torreys Peak, a 14,267-foot summit, the news outlet reported. But rescuers soon found she had survived.

A team of 26 rescuers responded to the 911 call at 1 p.m. Sunday, July 2, and seven climbed the peak, the Alpine Rescue Team said in a Facebook post.

Rescuers spotted Zola on the snow-capped mountain and saw her moving, so they knew she had survived, Smith told KDVR. A rescuer climbed down to Zola using ropes and stuffed her in a bag to be lifted back to her owners.

“It was very emotional for them,” Smith told the station, adding they were “shedding tears of joy” at being reunited. “It was really awesome for us to get to see.”

Zola had some abrasions and an injured back leg but was “so mellow for us” after being stranded for eight hours, Smith told Vail Daily.

Rescuers carried Zola, who couldn’t walk, 7 miles back to the trailhead, the Alpine Rescue Team said on Facebook.

“We are incredibly happy to have been able to save the pup and reunite it with its owners,” the team wrote.

Torreys Peak is part of the Rocky Mountains about 60 miles west of Denver.

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This story was originally published July 4, 2023 at 9:11 AM with the headline "Zola the dog plunges off Colorado peak. A teary reunion came eight hours later."