A monumental effort

Dear Editor:

Mountain Rescue Aspen recently conducted a search on behalf of the Pitkin County Sheriff’s Office in the backcountry above Redstone. The missing man has yet to be found, and our hearts go out to the family. In the meantime, we felt that it was important to acknowledge all of the wonderful people and organizations who have helped us so far. In addition to the average of 20 MRA personnel involved each day, logging more than 550 person-hours, we had tremendous help from:

Garfield County Search and Rescue members and their search dogs; Search and Rescue Dogs of Colorado (SARDOC), which brought in search dogs and their handlers from Larimer and Summit counties; DBS Helicopter out of Rifle; the Colorado Army National Guard (HAATS personnel and their OH-58 helicopter); Randy Melton and personnel from Avalanche Outfitters at Redstone Stables; the Colorado Search and Rescue Board (CSRB); and the Redstone branch of Carbondale Fire and Rescue for letting us stage out of their fire barn.

We also had many citizen volunteers coming out each day to help us search in rough terrain and wet conditions. Roger Berry, Sherry Rubin and the citizens of Redstone organized a food drive for our searchers. We are deeply grateful for the gourmet food and beverages provided by The Redstone Inn, City Market in Carbondale, the Crystal Club Cafe, Heidi’s Deli, The Hightower Cafe, the Jaynes family and the Woffard family.

It was heartwarming to see the many volunteer Redstone citizens who came forward to provide information and help us search. Redstone is a very special town. We look forward on behalf of the family of the missing man to the resolution of this mystery and stand ready to help in any way we can.

Mountain Rescue Aspen board of directors