19 replies to this topic

[mike offerman]

http://www.coloradoa...|text|FRONTPAGE

Search efforts are underway this morning for a 22-year-old male in the Bear Lake, Emerald Lake or Lake Haiyaha vicinity of Rocky Mountain National Park.

[See full article below.]

Edited by DeeCeeM, 27 October 2011 - 02:06 PM.
duplication of article that migrated in from RMNP Guide

[Rhonda]

Wow, very dangerous. Hope they find him and he is ok. Jeans in that kind of weather conditions is pretty unprepared.

[DeeCeeM]

A news article including pictures will be migrating over here from RMNP Guide.

[DeeCeeM]

Update - he's been found. An article will be migrating over from the Guide shortly.

[Aaron]

At 10:30 a.m. this morning verbal contact was made between a search team and Lund. Due to no contact with Lund in the the Chaos Canyon area yesterday, search efforts were also made in the Dream Lake and Emerald Lake area today. Lund was above Emerald Lake in the Tyndall Glacier area not above Lake Haiyaha as he initially reported to park rangers. A search team reached him at 11:06 a.m. They are assessing his condition and determining the best way to assist him from the challenging terrain. Once that is determined the National Parks Service will send out another update.

[Initial article below.]

View the full article

[Aaron]

At 8:30 a.m. yesterday, Wednesday, October 26, Rocky Mountain National Park dispatch received a 911 call from a 22-year-old male identifying himself as Andrew "Andy" Lund from Branson, Missouri. He was calling from his cell phone and thought he was somewhere above Lake Haiyaha (elevation 10,220 feet) seeking shelter under a large boulder. He had hitchhiked and was dropped off at the Bear Lake Trailhead on Tuesday, October 25 at approximately 2:00 p.m.. Overnight temperatures on Tuesday were less than 25 degrees and more than a foot of snow fell in the area by Wednesday morning. He seems to be unprepared for the deep snow and winter conditions; however, he does have a sleeping bag, tarp and whistle. He indicated he was wet, cold and had no water. He had intended to spend Tuesday night but did not get the required backcountry camping permit.


Rangers had been speaking with him hourly on his cell phone. After 3:00 p.m. rangers were unable to make any more cell phone contact with him. Rangers continue to attempt to track the location of the cell phone but the model does not appear to have those features.

An initial hasty search team reached the Lake Haiyaha area around 12:30 p.m. yesterday. Lake Haiyaha is 2.1 miles from the popular Bear Lake Trailhead. Additional searchers reached the area at 3:15 p.m. They searched the upper "Chaos Canyon" area, west of Lake Haiyaha and attempted to establish contact using air horns and whistles. Chaos Canyon is appropriately named, known for very large boulder fields that make walking difficult. With over 18 inches of new snow in this area current conditions are challenging and hazardous. The temperatures last night were forecasted to be 5 degrees with a wind chill of -5 degrees.

Last night, searchers came out of the area and planning continued for search and rescue efforts this morning. This morning, park rangers assisted by Colorado Mountain School and Larimer County Search and Rescue left the trailhead at 9:00 a.m. and will continue search efforts in the
same area. There are also helicopter search efforts underway.

Andy Lund is 5' 10", 125 pounds with long blonde hair. His known clothing and gear were a camouflage jacket, blue ski cap, jeans and green army pack. If anyone was in the Bear Lake, Emerald Lake or Lake Haiyaha vicinity the afternoon of Tuesday, October 25, park rangers would like to hear from you. Please call (970) 586-1399.

Photographs of search provided by Rocky Mountain National Park







View the full article

[DeeCeeM]

Sorry the "answer" appears before the initial article. I merged the two topics, and it didn't put them in date stamp order for some reason.

[Scrapinator]

So glad they found him.

[DeeCeeM]

More from the National Park Service -

Additional gear to help warm Lund were dropped by helicopter on the west shore of Emerald Lake at around 12:30 p.m. Rescuers began moving around Emerald Lake with Lund on foot. Rescuers including a park medic and paramedic walked down the trail and reached the Bear Lake Trailhead at 2:30 p.m. Lund was further assessed and at 3:00 p.m. was taken by ambulance to Estes Park Medical Center.

[DrCloud]

Lesson: ALWAYS pay attention to the weather forecast before going out overnight (or even for the day) this time of year (and other times, too).

Shameless plug: Meteorology courses in college can be quite helpful with this sort of thing, because you learn how to interpret not only weather forecasts but also the more technical data behind them, all of which is available on the internet.

(I'm not DrCloud by accident, y'know! ) HPH

[DeeCeeM]

I can think of several other lessons he needs to learn, too. I expect the National Parks Service will be explaining several of them to him.

[mwilson]

I'm certainly glad this turned out well even though it appears he made some serious errors in judgment. Fortunately it did not cost him or his rescuers their lives.

[rcw]

mwilson, on 27 October 2011 - 05:23 PM, said:

I'm certainly glad this turned out well even though it appears he made some serious errors in judgment. Fortunately it did not cost him or his rescuers their lives.

Well said. Well spoken.

[John]

I'm wondering if his intended destination was Flathead Mountain.

[Rhonda]

John, on 27 October 2011 - 07:04 PM, said:

I'm wondering if his intended destination was Flathead Mountain.

My thoughts, too, when I first saw the missing hiker headline. Thought it was going to be lady in cotton capris and carrying a purse.