Rocky Mountain National Park spent $41,000 trying to rescue a stranded Canadian hiker off Longs Peak at the end of May, according to a news release sent Tuesday by the national park.
It took nearly three days, 46 people and two helicopters to get 19-year-old Samuel Frappier, of Quebec, Canada, off a narrow rocky ledge on the east side of the 14,000 foot Longs Peak. The national park does not charge those rescued for rescue operations.
On May 27, Frappier and a friend decided to hike the peak, but when the two were separated, Frappier got lost and found himself perched above a sheer 1,000-foot drop at 13,000 feet of elevation. Stranded with no equipment and a cellphone, Frappier called park rangers and told them he could not spend the night on the peak, where temperatures were expected to dip below freezing that night.
Rescue teams started arriving that Tuesday night, and spent Wednesday scoping out Frappier's location from the ground and from the air. A helicopter from Jackson, Wyo., was flown in, but rapid warmth and melting on the peak's face prevented rescuers from reaching Frappier on Wednesday.
By that evening, Frappier started to work his own way down the mountain side, and reached rescuers at Chasm Meadows, where he was airlifted to Upper Beaver Meadows. From there, an ambulance took him to the Estes Park Medical Center. He was released later that night.
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