Mission Updates

We have had a steady amount missions the past few years. We try and list these when we can. There is a large gap for 2008 - but we were busy.

October 2009 - Assist with techincal rope rescue for stranded hiker, search for overdue hikers/hunters (6 seperate incidents), assist with medical rescue for sick hunter.

September 2009 - Assit with search for four overdue horseback riders and overdue bowhunter.

August 2009 - Assist with search for overdue hiker, injured horseback rider in wilderness, and overdue hikers on the Continental Divide Trail.

July 2009 - Assit with search for missing person and injured horseback rider needing litter evacuation.

March 2009 - Assist 911 with repeated hang-up calls in remote part of the county.

February 2009 - Search for a missing biker.

January 2009 - Assisting the Sheriff's Department with an evidence search.

January 2008 - Call out to assist in urban search for missing 5YOF in Downtown area. Mutual aid given to Mineral County Sheriff's Department through Archuleta County Emergency Operations for two lost snowboarders from New Mexico at Wolf Creek Ski Area.

November 2007 - Several missions that inlcuded hunters with injuries and medical emergencies.

October 2007 - A few missions that included overdue fisherman, plane recovery on Banded Peaks Ranch and a hunter with a broken leg at Granite Lake.

September 2007 - Several missions including lost hunters, lost hikers and injuried horseback riders.

August 2007 - Rescue of a 21-year-old female who fell down a boulder field sustaining injuries that required evacuation. The subject was reported to have fallen between five and 10 feet, sustaining injuries to her head, face and potentially to internal organs. They were hiking near Fish Lake and Gun Site Pass at an elevation of about 11,800 feet and needed help getting the injured woman off the mountain and to medical care. They were approximately seven miles up the trail from the Blanco Basin to Fish Lake. The subject was evacuated by helicopter at 5:45 p.m. to Steven’s Field and then transferred to Mercy Regional Medical Center by ambulance.

August 2007 - Female injured in an ATV accident Sunday afternoon at a site on the East Fork road. Subject was rescued and treated by local crews, then flown by helicopter to MRMC in Durango. Subject was driving her ATV eight miles up Forest Road 667 near the East Fork of the San Juan River, when she lost control of the vehicle and left the road, crashing down a 60-foot vertical embankment. Rescuers rappelled down the embankment and brought Martinez out at an angle, with other personnel assisting with ropes from the road. Eighteen emergency responders took part in the rescue.

July 2007 - Female hiker evaucated by helicopter. Sustained injuries to her leg / ankle.

June 2007 - Box Canyon on Piedra River - Search and Rescue of male hiker off the trail - mission finished when hiker was located by foot and horse teams and picked up by raft team.

March 2007 - Hiker that was not able to decend to a safe path in the Chimney Rock Geological Area.

November 2006 - Members of USJSAR and Mounted SAR worked together to rescue one of our own. Several members of USJSAR were hiking Toner Mountain Friday afternoon when one of them took a plunge of around 500 feet when he lost his footing and started tumbling down the terrain. The rescue conditions were not good, the terrain awkward and the elevation extremely steep, under these conditions the patient was evacuated on a stokes litter - tough on him as well. Virtually the entire operation was conducted in darkness using headlamps. The patient was brought to medics at the trail head from Pagosa Springs EMS around midnight making the rescue last over 9 hours.

October 2006 - Emergency Operations extracted another hunter, an unidentified 57-year old Tulsa, Oklahoma man with a broken ankle, out of the backcountry on the Turkey Creek Trail, near Jackson Mountain, on Monday. The search and rescue unit went in as far a possible on ATV's, then proceeded on foot. After stabilizing the hunter, they packed him down to a landing zone, where he could be airlifted out to Mercy Medical Center in Durango. USJSAR members responded and stood down in the field.

October 2006 - A Michigan man died suddenly Saturday afternoon while on a hunting trip near Clutter Mountain south of Pagosa Springs, from a probable heart attack that occurred while field dressing an elk. Due to timing, weather and difficult terrain, Archuleta County Emergency Operations was unable to send personnel into the backcountry Saturday. Despite snow and wet cold, Emergency Operations sent in Mounted Search and Rescue to assist.