SAN MIGUEL, Colo. — A 72-year-old Denver man survived but has multiple traumatic injuries after he fell on Wilson Peak Wednesday afternoon.
Deputies with the San Miguel County Sheriff's Office, San Miguel County Search and Rescue, and Telluride Fire Protection District responded to help with the rescue.
The man tumbled between 500 and 1,000 steep, vertical feet near the Navajo Basin while hiking Wilson Peak, according to the sheriff's office.
Wilson Peak is a steep and rugged 14,023-foot mountain in the Lizard Head Wilderness in the northwestern San Juan Mountains.
The injured man was spotted by hikers above him. Those hikers contacted authorities at 3:45 p.m. and a search and rescue mission started.
Highland Helicopter in Durango flew rescuers to a landing zone and they hiked to the man and carried him in a litter though treacherous terrain to the helicopter, according to the sheriff's office.
The man was flown to the Telluride Airport and then transported via a Careflight team to St. Mary's Hospital in Grand Junction.
The man had multiple traumatic injuries, according to the sheriff's office.
The sheriff's office said he "is considered lucky to have been spotted by the group of unrelated hikers."
The man has not been identified.
