In The NoCo

Alpine rescue crews in Colorado are saving more people by helicopter this summer. It’s dangerous work

By In The NoCo,

Published July 16, 2025 at 5:40 AM MDT

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A person wearing a helmet leans out of a helicopter above snowcapped peaks. — The highest helicopter hoist on record in Colorado was performed off the top of Quandary Peak this summer. Search and rescue crews have performed a record number of helicopter hoists this year.

A few weeks back, a pair of hikers found themselves stranded on a cliff atop Quandary Peak – 14,000 feet in elevation – in cold temperatures. A rescue crew had to respond by helicopter and lift them off the mountain.

It was one of 10 helicopter hoists that Colorado search and rescue crews performed this year through the end of June. That’s a record number. These dangerous maneuvers require helicopters to get close enough to rocky peaks to lower a rope and harness to people in trouble.

And the rescue on Quandary Peak wasn’t even the most dramatic. Another recent rescue helped climbers who were struck by lightning and also set the record for Colorado’s highest-altitude hoist.

Ryan Spencer, a reporter for the Summit Daily News, wrote about this spike in helicopter hoists. He told Erin O’Toole that it’s not clear why this increase in helicopter rescues is happening – but the stories about them are harrowing.

Correction: An earlier version of this episode gave the incorrect number of helicopter hoists performed in Colorado this year through June. The correct number is 10.

A group of people take shelter under cold weather gear at the top of a high rocky peak.

1 of 2 — quandary rescue 4.jpeg

A rescue crew stayed with a father and son through the night in a makeshift shelter on the top of Quandary Peak after they were cliffed-out in June.

Courtesy Summit County Rescue Group

A helicopter flies above snowcapped peaks with a person attached to a line below.

2 of 2 — QuandaryRescue.jpeg

Courtesy Summit County Rescue Group

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In The NoCo

KUNC's In The NoCo is a daily slice of stories, news, people and issues. It's a window to the communities along the Colorado Rocky Mountains. The show brings context and insight to the stories of the day, often elevating unheard voices in the process. And because life in Northern Colorado is a balance of work and play, we celebrate the lighter side of things here, too.

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Ariel Lavery

Ariel Lavery grew up in Louisville, Colorado and has returned to the Front Range after spending over 25 years moving around the country. She co-created the podcast Middle of Everywhere for WKMS, Murray State University’s NPR member station, and won Public Media Journalism awards in every season she produced for Middle of Everywhere. Her most recent series project is "The Burn Scar", published with The Modern West podcast. In it, she chronicles two years of her family’s financial and emotional struggle following the loss of her childhood home in the Marshall Fire.

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Erin O'Toole

As the host of KUNC’s new program and podcast In the NoCo, I work closely with our producers and reporters to bring context and diverse perspectives to the important issues of the day. Northern Colorado is such a diverse and growing region, brimming with history, culture, music, education, civic engagement, and amazing outdoor recreation. I love finding the stories and voices that reflect what makes NoCo such an extraordinary place to live.

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Brad Turner

Brad Turner is an executive producer in KUNC's newsroom. He manages the podcast team that makes In The NoCo, which also airs weekdays in Morning Edition and All Things Considered. His work as a podcaster and journalist has appeared on NPR's Weekend Edition, NPR Music, the PBS Newshour, Colorado Public Radio, MTV Online, the Denver Post, Boulder's Daily Camera, and the Longmont Times-Call.

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