A hiker was rescued after becoming lost and spending the night in the Pierre Lakes basin, southwest of the Capitol Peak summit near Aspen on Friday.

According to a Facebook post from Mountain Rescue Aspen (MRA), at around 6:49 p.m., the Pitkin County Regional Emergency Dispatch Center was notified by the Garmin Emergency Rescue Center that they had received a message via InReach satellite stating that a person was lost and needed help.

MRA was alerted and worked to establish communications with the subject, who appeared to be lost in the Pierre Lakes basin southwest of the Capitol Peak summit. Flight for Life Colorado was requested to assist by doing a flyover of the subject to assess the situation. The hiker was located on the steep eastern slope south of the summit. During the flyover, the subject was spotted waving his arms. However, Flight for Life was not able to land in the area of the subject, but reported back the conditions.

Rescuers were able to use messaging via the subject’s satellite Garmin InReach device to instruct the subject to move east, downhill toward Pierre Lakes. Over the next hour and a half while waiting for Flight for Life to return, the subject moved toward Pierre Lakes.

Flight for Life then flew a flight crew member and MRA rescuer into the basin to get the subject, who was exhausted and not prepared for spending the night in the area.

The subject was transported to the Aspen Airport for further evaluation and care. All responders were out of the field by 10:40 a.m., which was almost 16 hours after the rescue began.

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