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Injured backcountry skier rescued from Tagert Hut south of Aspen

Staff report

A company that monitors beacons notified Pitkin County dispatch that a personal emergency locator beacon had been activated late Monday afternoon.

The call came in about 4:32 p.m., according to a Pitkin County Sheriff’s Office statement released Tuesday morning. A beacon was broadcasting a signal near the Tagert Hut, part of the Alfred Braun Hut System. Dispatch received information only that a person needed some sort of help.

It also was confirmed that the owner of the beacon had reserved the Tagert Hut, according to the statement. The Tagert Hut is located at the head of the Castle Creek Valley, about 14 miles south of Aspen.



“The monitoring company then notified the sheriff’s office that the subscriber with the emergency beacon had notified them to cancel any response by emergency services. This was at about 5:55 p.m. However, the emergency beacon was reactivated at around 6:45 p.m.,” the statement said.

Members of Mountain Rescue Aspen had already assembled at the C. B. Cameron Rescue Center, and a team of five rescuers were then sent into the field via snowmobile at about 6:53 p.m.




“MRA members contacted what turned out to be an injured backcountry skier at the Tagert hut. The skier had an injured ankle and was unable to make it back to the trailhead under his own power. The injured skier, a male in his 50s from the Front Range, was medically assessed and transported to the trailhead near the ghost town of Ashcroft,” the statement said. “The injured skier was then brought to Aspen Valley Hospital by his son. All members of MRA were out of the field by 10:35 p.m.”

The Pitkin County Sheriff’s Office said in the statement that it reminds everyone using the backcountry to be prepared for quickly changing conditions such as weather, avalanche danger and other possibilities that could arise.