Company retreats can be a great way to encourage team building, boost morale, and give employees a chance to bond and relax. But this point seems to have been missed by a group of coworkers who recently left a man behind on a Colorado mountain, leaving his poor coworker to face the harsh weather overnight.
According to details shared on Facebook earlier this week by Chaffee County Search and Rescue, South, the man was part of a group of 15 coworkers who set out on a planned expedition to climb Mount Shavano in the southern Sawatch Range of the Rocky Mountains on Friday, Aug. 23. “In what could lead to some awkward encounters at the office in the coming days and weeks, one of the group members was forced to complete the final summit climb alone,” the post read.
The team was split into two groups, one group completing their attempts to climb the summit, while a separate group hiked up the saddle and back down. However, when the lone hiker, dressed entirely in black, attempted to descend the summit at around 11:30 a.m., he became disoriented. To make matters worse, he had collected the belongings that the previous group had left behind on the rocky outcrop to mark their path.
After finding himself in a steep field of rocks and rubble and unsure of which way to go, he threw a pin at his colleagues who were already descending. Unfortunately, he was informed that he was on the wrong route and told to climb back up the slope to get back on the trail.
Hours later, when he thought he was nearing the trail, the man fired another shot and text message to his group, but a powerful storm with freezing rain and high winds soon passed through the area. He became disoriented again, this time losing cell phone signal in the storm.
When search teams set out to find the man that evening, poor weather conditions made it unsafe to reach the summit. Additional resources were requested overnight, and a second search and rescue team set out Saturday morning. Fortunately, the man eventually regained cell service to call 911 and was found in a ditch below Esprit Point in the mountain range. He later said he fell “at least 20 times” trying to get back up the cascading slopes before he was able to call for help.
“At a secure location, all efforts were focused on reaching and extricating the subject, which required technical rappels and extraordinary cooperation and teamwork from all teams on site,” the emergency services wrote. “The subject was stabilized and evaluated by SAR personnel and transported to a hospital for more definitive care.”
The agency stressed that anyone exploring the countryside should always walk with a partner, pack brightly coloured clothes and “don't forget to pack 10 essential items in your daypack”.
“This hiker was incredibly lucky to have cell phone service restored and still have the awareness and ability to call 911,” the post concluded. “Although located in a tertiary search area, it would have taken crews some time to get to that location on their own.”
