Mission Report: Mt. Antero – Chaffee County

For the last three weeks, Colorado 4×4 rescue and Recovery has been on a roll. Or more specifically, we have been responding to rollovers. This weekend brought our third rollover and our second trip to Chaffee County; this one being at 13,450 feet on Mt Antero. Twenty of our members answered the call.

The team met up in Buena Vista, some having spent the night in the region to help acclimate to the elevation since this was the highest complex recovery the organization had ever done, still 5,500 feet higher than the town. There, the team split into three teams.

Team 1 was the rigging team and went right to the roll over scene. Team 2 was the mechanical team that would either attempt to repair the vehicle to let it descend under its own power, or flat tow it out. Team 3 was the communications and safety team since there was no direct repeater communications from the roll over scene and the best location for base camp had no direct simplex communications with the roll over scene. Team 3, made up entirely of SAR-ES teams members, was also responsible for watching over team members for health issues.

Scouting the scene prior allowed for a rigging plan to be drawn and act as a starting point to save time at elevation. This plan was adapted through group discussion and teamwork on scene. The rig was righted to its wheels, lowered down to the next shelf road and turned to start its decent. The biggest cost on scene was not the rigging, but the rigging on an unstable slope at the elevation. It was exhausting.

After over 3 hours on scene, Team 1 descended to base to rest, eat and in some cases, nap. Team 2 met them at a large flat area on the trail and they handed off the rig. Team 2 worked the mechanical problems associated with a roll over which included a broken ignition key (common in roll overs), checking the brakes, dealing with a shattered windshield and of course, the issues associated with an engine that had been on it’s side for close to a week.

In 45 minutes, the rig was started and was able to start its own decent with a safety tether on the back to another rig. The brakes worked, as did the engine, and the suspension was stable. The 7 mile trip from the top to the trail head, went without issue.

The themes to this recovery were safety, planning and teamwork. All of these came as a result of training and experience. The influence of On Trail Training and several of our biggest previous operations was evident. Our members all filled roles and continued to learn in what was a seamless day and another successful recovery mission.

Thank you to all our members, from our most experienced to newest.

We also want to thank Josh Schwenzfeier, and Jim from Chaffee County Search and Rescue North for tagging along and helping out. They also helped provide weather report updates via ham radio.