Mountain Rescue Aspen plans to start a “Peak Awareness Program” on how to best stay safe while climbing in Colorado’s high country. The program was prompted by seven deaths this summer in the Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness.
Here is a bullet point summary of Mountain Rescue Aspen’s “Peak Awareness safety tips:
Summer Safety Tips – Climbers
- Elk Range is comprised of loose rocks
- Warming temperatures, wildlife an climbers are factors in contributing to rock fall
- Caution should be used with handholds and footing
- Rocks are slippery when wet or snowy
- Plan your primary route ahead of time
- Prepare an alternate backup route
- Cairns can be misleading
- Be prepared for quick weather changes
- Expect possible high winds
- Altitude, dehydration and exhaustion impair judgment
- Do not get separated from your group
Summer Safety tips – Communicating position
- Most smart phone have the ability to capture coordinates
- Example using an IPhone.
- Go to to privacy setting
- Turn Location Services to “on”
- Go to compass
- On the bottom read out the coordinates: degrees , minutes ‘ and seconds
- Example using an IPhone.
*Mountain Rescue Aspen’s Facebook page is a great resource as well. The picture bellow is from their page. 
[image from Mountain Rescue Aspen’s Facebook]
