Hiker lost for more than 24 hours on Mount CO ignored rescuers’ calls

a passenger who was lost on Colorado Mountain ignored calls from search and rescue teams for more than 24 hours because he did not recognize the phone number.

The hiker was reported missing at Lake County Search and Rescue around 8 p.m. on October 18 after failing to return from his morning climb on Mount Albert.

The search and rescue team was informed that the hiker had begun at the South Trailhead at 9 a.m. that morning, but had not returned to base 11 hours later.

The team then called several times to find the hiker, but was never able to catch him.

The rescue team spent the evening searching for the missing man and continued the search until the next day, only to find that the pedestrian – who was completely unaware that someone was looking for him – returned home safely at 9.30 that morning. Came on 19 October.

The hiker was reported missing around 8 a.m. when overdue from his hike beginning at the South Trailhead, one of the most popular of the five routes along the mountain.

The hiker, who has not been named, told officials that he would lose the trail as sunset and continue to look for the way through the night.

Eventually he found a way and went on several trails until he finally found his way to his car around 9 a.m.

Many on social media were puzzled as to why the lost hiker ignored his phone for so long. Some scoffed at the stereotype of Millennials avoiding talking on the phone.

@Vmigrator commented, ‘Say you’re a millennial without saying you’re a millennial.

User @StevenMandrapa tweeted: ‘Odds 10 to 1 this was a millennial worthy.’

Others questioned how the hiker got lost when there was cell service.

‘How do you get lost if your phone works??’ @who_remains tweeted with ‘Someone is lying’.

User @406ladypatriot echoed the sentiment, tweeting: ‘If you have cell service you are not a loser!!’

@gallerychapel tweeted: ‘Not all of a sudden I’m surprised this person got lost.’

But Lake County Search and Rescue came to their rescue, saying: ‘Please remember that what seems like common sense is not obvious to a subject at a time when they get lost and panicked.

‘Please keep your comments respectful.’

However, the team urged hikers to pick up their cellphones if they find themselves in the same scenario.

The Lake County SAR posted on Facebook, ‘If you are overdue according to your itinerary, and you keep getting repeated calls from an unknown number, please answer the phone.

A passenger who got lost for more than 24 hours on Mount Albert in Colorado ignored a call from the Lake County Search and Rescue team because he didn’t recognize the phone number

‘If you are overdue according to your itinerary, and you get frequent calls from an unknown number, please answer the phone; It could be a SAR team trying to confirm that you are safe!’

This could have saved two teams of five and three rescuers from spending hours on the side of the mountain after the hiker was reported lost on 18 October.

Rescue teams conducted searches in ‘high probability’ areas from 10 pm to 3 am and called off the search that night.

They regrouped the next day at 7 a.m. ‘in a new area where hikers usually lose the trail’ until they discovered that the hiker had returned safely.

Mount Albert is the highest peak in Colorado and the second highest in the lower 48 states. There are five main routes up the mountain to the peak, one of the two most popular being the South Trail.

The 5.8-mile route is listed as a ‘relatively easy’ path by the Department of Agriculture Forest Service.