Wyoming rescue teams recover trail runner's body from Colorado peak

Search and rescue personnel from Wyoming's Teton Range used their specialized helicopter to pick a deceased trail runner's body off a Front Range mountain Thursday.

The 31-year-old Boulder man's body had remained on the steep, loose western face of Arikaree Peak since Aug. 28.

Colorado rescue teams made two attempts at recovering the man's body in the days following his fall, but called off the effort due to extreme safety risks to their own personnel.

Those Colorado teams contacted Teton County Search and Rescue early last week. A Teton crew joined a pair of Jenny Lake Climbing Rangers from Grand Teton National Park and flew in TCSAR's Airbus A-Star helicopter to Granby on Wednesday.

Thursday, with guidance from the Grand County Search and Rescue, the copter lowered crew members onto the mountain with a longer cable.

"They are able to deploy up to 450 feet of line below their helicopter and safely transport live loads," Grand County Search and Rescue Field Director Greg Foley told CBS News Colorado. "The line length for this recovery was 250 feet."

Foley explained that 250 feet was the maximum amount of cable on the U.S. military's Blackhawk helicopter which attempted to place rescuers on the mountainside in earlier attempts. High winds complicated the mission that day. The A-Star's narrower rotor radius also allowed it to safely move closer to the mountain.

Foley added that 250 feet is "standard configuration for hoist rescues in Colorado."

"This was a unique rescue for us for many reasons," said TCSAR Chief Advisor Cody Lockhart in a social media post . "This was the first time we have been called down to Colorado and there were a lot of individuals and agencies involved in the rescue effort. This was also a tough rescue for us to assist with, from both a technical level and the heavy nature of the job. We are grateful that we were able to help get this man off the mountain and home to his family."

"TCSAR's ability to insert rescuers by longline was key to making this recovery safe and quick for rescuers," added Dale Atkins of Alpine Rescue Team, another team involved in the initial attempts to retrieve the body. "Ironically, this technique was something that some Colorado SAR teams did way back in the 1980s, but by the 1990s an increase in regulations and changes in attitudes lead to the practice going away. When it went away, our search and rescue tool box got smaller. For this recovery on Arikaree Peak, it was terrific that Grand County could bring in the TSCAR and Grand Teton NP crews to assist and get this man off the mountain."