‘Unprepared’ climbers spend night in frigid Rocky Mountain National Park before rescue
Two climbers had to spend the night on a frigid mountain after they tried climbing the tallest peak inside a Colorado national park — without the proper equipment, officials said.
They had set out July 11 to climb Longs Peak in Rocky Mountain National Park, but at some point, they became stranded and called rangers for help by that evening, National Park Service officials said in a news release.
Rangers stayed in contact with them overnight, and Rocky Mountain National Park Search and Rescue teams went out to rescue them first thing on Wednesday, July 12, officials said.
The climbers left from Chasm Lake and started climbing the Casual Route on the East Face of the peak, also called the Diamond. But they were “unprepared” for the peak’s year-round wintry conditions and didn’t have the equipment they would have needed to either get themselves out or spend the night in cold temperatures, officials said.
But that’s what they ended up having to do. The next day, rescue teams helped the climbers out of the steep terrain, officials said.
They climbed to the summit and then hiked down with the rescue teams through the North Face of Longs Peak, reaching the trailhead that evening, officials said.
Longs Peak is “the highest elevation peak inside Rocky Mountain National Park” — at 14,259 feet, it “towers over” all the other summits in the park.
“Climbing Longs Peak is a serious objective with serious outcomes,” officials said in the release. “For most of the year, Longs Peak is in winter conditions, which requires winter mountaineering experience and knowledge of equipment. Disregard for the mountain environment any time of year has inherent danger. All climbers should have knowledge of climbing routes, the necessary equipment and knowledge to self-rescue, and necessary gear in the event of an unexpected overnight stay on the mountain.”
This story was originally published July 13, 2023 at 3:27 PM with the headline "‘Unprepared’ climbers spend night in frigid Rocky Mountain National Park before rescue."
