Rescuers with the Pitkin County Sheriff’s Office and Mountain Rescue Aspen had to rescue a female hiker near Crater Lake yesterday evening, and ended up having to evacuate her via helicopter due to a medical emergency.
Authorities received the first indication of trouble when the Ohio woman apparently activated an emergency beacon around 6 pm. While the first rescue team was being assembled, another call came in advising the rescuers that the hiker had collapsed and was having seizures. That prompted officials to immediately deploy four ground teams and a CareFlight helicopter to the location.
Rescuers finally reached the hiker at about 8:45, and due to her deteriorating medical condition, decided to fly her directly to St. Mary’s Hospital in Grand Junction.
The Sheriff’s office says that if hikers start experiencing symptoms such as severe headache, trouble balancing, difficulty breathing or a sudden onset of coughing, that can indicate a serious medical problem and they should immediately turn around and head to a lower elevation.
