Hut Tripper Recalls Rescue on hut to hut trip.

As a followup the the story about a group on a hut to hut trip needing to be rescued, One of the members of the group, Richie Cummins, described the situation as follows:

The group was hiking from the Barnard hut to the Opas hut outside Ashcroft on March 5.  When they rounded a corner near the top of Taylor Pass they saw a worrisome cornice that slid "Within 60 seconds,” he said.  No one was caught, but the slide severed their path to the Opas hut. It was about 4:30 p.m., and they were a mile or so from their destination.  Because a member of the group was ill, they advised against hiking back to Barnard Hut, and instead tried to exit using Express Creek Road.

With the weather getting worse, and the route unstable, the group dug a snow cave , everyone put on all the clothes they had, and Cummins activated his personal locator beacon which sent a text to the device’s monitoring company, who in turn alerted the Aspen-Pitkin County Communications Center.

Upon further research, it looks like Cummins used a Spot Connect Personal Locator Beacon or the Spot II Satellite GPS Beacon.  Both are priced well below the top end models, with the Spot Connect priced at $149.00 while the Spot II is priced at $99.  The Spot II is a stand alone unit, while the Spot Connect Requires the use of a smart phone.  Both of these models require a yearly subscription fee between $99.00 and $150.00 per year.

read more: http://www.aspendailynews.com/section/home/157097

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