Seven backcountry skiers were treated and rescued while attempting to reach the Goodwin Greene Hut in Pitkin County, Colorado, on Monday, January 26th, with all experiencing frostbite as temperatures reached below freezing.
Pitkin County Regional Emergency Dispatch Center received a medical SOS at around 11:53am on Monday from the Goodwin Greene Hut. Two members of the party had already been rescued the night before, and the remaining five members were reported as having cold related injuries of varying degrees. One person was suffering from loss of eyesight.
The call was forwarded to Pitkin County Sheriff’s Office who in turn alerted Mountain Rescue Aspen (MRA). CareFlight of the Rockies accepted the mission with their Montrose based helicopter while MRA assembled and mobilized teams on snowmobiles. The on-call state coordinators with Colorado Search and Rescue assisted in coordination in case a larger aircraft was needed.
The CareFlight helicopter landed around 500 feet from the hut where teh five patients were assisted. Two seriously injured patients with cold injuries were flown to Aspen Valley Health while the field team provided medical care to the remaining three. Per their own request, they were left behind at the hut with only minor cold injuries. CareFlight had all crew members and equipment medevac’d from the scene in 12 hours.
