SAR, 3 incidents, 1 day, 1 peak

[Peak200]

SAR does such a good job. Everybody has to do the fourteeners when there are plenty of nice other peaks 300-400 feet lower. I did eight peaks in two weekend days near Quandry and the total amount of people I saw on the peaks
was 0. What a zoo on a lot of these 14ers.

[Broken Knee]

A Canadian would've figured out how to get down safely... eventually.

I've found that cracking open a Molson Canadian revives them quickly and gets them headed back on the path.

[CorduroyCalves]

I was on the mountain that day and saw bits and pieces of all these events. The man who had fallen and hit his head was descending while I was still going up. He was being helped by probably 7-8 strangers and I spoke to one who had helped administer first aid. He seemed to be in good hands, but I checked to see if he required any first aid equipment that I had on me that they may have needed before continuing my ascent. SAR had already been contacted at this point.
On my descent, I ran into a SAR member who told me that this was the 3rd rescue in progress that day, and another was suffering severe AMS, and another had a broken ankle. I passed all 3 groups on the way down. I also ran into the hiker who I spoke to earlier, who was suffering from dehydration and AMS himself. I gave him the last of my water. He was from Georgia, been in town for less than a day, and summited without ANY water. (It was ungodly hot that day). I also saw another girl being helped off who blew out her knee.
I had been hoping a Tuesday would be quiet, but I was very wrong. There were at least a 100 folks on the mountain, people had there boom boxes going, girls taking selfies with goats, injuries everywhere.... Which is such a shame because it is a really beautiful peak.
I know I'm just a noob, but I say change it to class 2 and maybe it'll keep some people on Bierstadt instead....
Either way, hats off to both SAR who had to do all of this without the help of a helicopter due to the heat, and to all the good Samaritans who hike our mountains. Like almost everyone I encountered on the hike, they may not know a damn thing about trail etiquette, but that's clearly not a prerequisite for being able to help save a life....or 3 in this case.

Sorry, but that's just dumb. I'm not saying I wouldn't have helped, but c'mon. . . no water? Sigh.

[BillMiddlebrook]

Yup, duh. If you know how to find the trailhead, you should know that water is required on a 14er.

[climbinfool]

NO WATER! That's a new one (unfortunately, I'm sure it's actually not).

[Sean Nunn]

SAR does such a good job. Everybody has to do the fourteeners when there are plenty of nice other peaks 300-400 feet lower. I did eight peaks in two weekend days near Quandry and the total amount of people I saw on the peaks
was 0. What a zoo on a lot of these 14ers.

As bad as this sounds, since there is no way to keep completely incompetent people off mountains short of police state measures, it is probably better to keep them localized in just a few places (Quandry, Sherman, Bierstadt, etc.). It makes them much easier for SAR to find, and much more likely that someone can help them with simple assistance (a water bottle, minor first aid, etc) in order to prevent the necessity of a SAR mission. A grossly incompetent person climbing a rarely trod 13er who gets into trouble might not be found until it is too late.

Sean Nunn
Raytown MO

[tlongpine]

SAR does such a good job. Everybody has to do the fourteeners when there are plenty of nice other peaks 300-400 feet lower. I did eight peaks in two weekend days near Quandry and the total amount of people I saw on the peaks
was 0. What a zoo on a lot of these 14ers.

As bad as this sounds, since there is no way to keep completely incompetent people off mountains short of police state measures, it is probably better to keep them localized in just a few places (Quandry, Sherman, Bierstadt, etc.). It makes them much easier for SAR to find, and much more likely that someone can help them with simple assistance (a water bottle, minor first aid, etc) in order to prevent the necessity of a SAR mission. A grossly incompetent person climbing a rarely trod 13er who gets into trouble might not be found until it is too late.

Sean Nunn
Raytown MO

It doesn't sound bad, just uninformed. Perfectly competent people find themselves in need of SAR, too.