A hiker was injured Saturday after falling 30 feet at Bridal Veil Falls in Telluride while trying to rescue a friend’s puppy, who had also fallen.
Technical rope rescues were required for the hiker and the dog, according to a San Miguel Sheriff’s Office report.
Blue, a 3-month-old puppy, lost its footing just before the Bridal Veil gate and tumbled 15 feet into a narrow chute.
While down climbing to rescue the puppy, a 25-year-old woman hiker from Denver fell 30 feet and crashed into a man who was positioned below to catch the dog in case it fell.
“The man waiting below was able to break her fall, and they both slid another 20 feet on the vertical scree field,” according to the report. Both hikers sustained injuries.
Telluride dispatch received a call for help at 11:30 a.m., and search and rescue teams arrived soon after. They set up and performed a technical rope and litter rescue for the injured woman.
She was taken to Telluride Regional Medical Center, then by ambulance to St. Mary’s Hospital in Grand Junction. She suffered traumatic injuries, they were not life-threatening.
The man who broke her fall was treated and released for minor injuries.
After extracting the injured woman, rescuers set up another high-angle technical-rope rescue to bring down the frightened puppy.
A rescuer reached Blue on ropes, secured her into a harness and took her down the rock face to reunite her with her owner. Blue was uninjured.
San Miguel County Search and Rescue and Telluride Fire Protection District EMS responded to the incident.
Sangre de Cristo rescue
In September, the Alamosa Volunteer Search and Rescue responded to three hikers who had become stranded out on their descent from Ellingwood Point in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains.
The three hikers got into sketchy terrain after they made a wrong turn between the C2 and C3 couloir, according to a search and rescue report. They became stranded on a ledge 600 feet above the South Zapata Lake Basin.
A Flight for Life helicopter flew over the hikers and successfully got their GPS coordinates, but because of the high temperatures and high speed winds, were not able to insert team members.
Team members began hiking in on foot to the stranded hikers. They made contact after dark, and set up a rope hand line the next morning to assist the hikers off of the cliff. The rescue team and hikers were able hike out and there were no reported injuries.
Colorado Search and Rescue Association, Alamosa County Victim Advocates, and the Alamosa County Sheriff’s Office assisted in the rescue effort.
jmimiaga@the-journal.com