CONEJOS COUNTY, Colo — A 72-year-old man is alive after spending a night outside in a blizzard in southwest Colorado.
The Conejos County Sheriff's Office said in a Facebook post that it was notified of an emergency distress signal in the Trujillo Meadows area of LaManga Pass at 8:20 p.m. Tuesday.
The signal was coming from a device carried by a man from Chromo who had gotten lost in blizzard conditions while cross-country skiing in the backcountry near Trujillo Meadows Reservoir.
Conejos County Sheriff Garth Crowther and Undersheriff Blake Crowther responded and found the man's unoccupied vehicle parked at the Trujillo Meadows Reservoir turnoff. Because of the blizzard conditions and poor visibility, they decided to leave and come back the next morning.
The sheriff and undersheriff came back early Wednesday morning with U.S. Forest Service workers. With the help of Conejos County Search and Rescue, they made their way back to the man's location using coordinates provided by his emergency device.
The man was inside a yurt when they found him, but he said he had spent the entire night outside. He was wet, cold and on the verge of hypothermia, and was taken to the hospital for treatment.
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