Colorado sheriff frustrated over base jumper who called for, then declined help: “should have known better”
By Alan Gionet
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SAN MIGUEL COUNTY, Colorado (KCNC) — The San Miguel County sheriff is expressing frustration after a man from western Colorado sought help but then declined it following a reported fall during a base-jumping incident south of Telluride.
“His decisions unnecessarily diverted emergency resources, including a Care Flight helicopter, that may have been needed for other emergencies,” posted Sheriff Dan Covault.
The 31-year-old from Grand Junction sent an SOS message on Monday saying he was in trouble about six miles south-southeast of Bridal Veil Falls in the Columbine Basin. He reported he had fallen about 150-200 feet and believed his leg was broken, indicating he could not walk and needed help.
“We took motorcycles and a UTV to a spot we could get to. They had to hike another 1.5 miles to reach the area where he was,” said sheriff’s office spokesperson Susan Lilly. “We have to land, get personnel off, unload weight to go into high altitude. We loaded a search and rescue member, went up for, you know, just kind of check it out.”
The ground team was the first to reach the man.
“They were with him, and he ended up changing his mind. Whether that’s because he saw the helicopter and said, ‘Oh, you know, this is going to cost me a lot of money,'” said Lilly. “That was probably a factor, but you know, maybe he would have thought of that earlier.”
The man told rescuers he would walk out. While search and rescue organizations in Colorado do not charge, there is a charge for medical helicopter evacuation.
The man was no stranger to rescues, having been a search-and-rescue volunteer in another Western Slope county. He was also the subject of a big rescue operation ten years ago after a base-jumping accident in the Swiss Alps that left him stranded for 13 hours.
“We thought, ‘Gee, of all people, he should probably know better that we’re going to deploy these resources,'” said Lilly.
The sheriff’s office and search-and-rescue organizations do not want to discourage people from seeking help. Delaying calls can worsen situations.
“I can’t emphasize enough that we want people to call when they’re in distress, whether it’s medical, they have an injury, or they’re lost. We want them to call search and rescue. That’s what we’re here for,” said Lilly. But she expressed exasperation at the recent situation, “It’s very frustrating when we get up there, and someone says, ‘ Never mind, I’m going to walk out on my own.'”
“The fact that he was able to hike back down shows a profound lack of respect for the tremendous effort and resources devoted to this rescue,” the sheriff said in his statement.
CBS Colorado attempted to contact the man for comment but was unable to reach him.
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