The Summit County Rescue Group had a busy Labor Day Weekend as it received eight calls for service in the backcountry in a less than 72-hour stretch.

That includes a medical incident where a helicopter assisted with extracting a hiker from the backcountry, multiple mountain bike crashes and an off-road driver who was separated from their group, Summit County Rescue Group president Ben Butler said.

“It was definitely a busy Labor Day Weekend,” Butler said. “Our calls have come in spurts here, where we’ll respond to 5-10 calls in a week and then no calls the next week.”

The busy weekend kicked off when the Summit County Rescue Group was notified just before 1 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 31, that a hiker in the vicinity of Fletcher Mountain had slipped and fallen, Butler said. The hiker wasn’t confident about getting back to the ridgeline from where he fell.

There was no cell service in the area where the solo hiker fell, but he was able to get in contact with search and rescue thanks to a ZOLEO satellite communicator, Butler said. Satellite communication devices like a ZOLEO or Garmin InReach can prove vital in the backcountry when there is no cell service, he said.

“This is really important for folks who are either going out solo or who are going out where there is limited cell phone communication,” Butler said. “These satellite communication devices are great tools. It probably took us four hours to get to him. Based on where he was, if he didn’t have that satellite communicator, it would have been much, much longer.”

When rescuers reached the solo hiker, they discovered that “he was in a precarious spot,” Butler said. But after a quick medical evaluation, the rescue group was able to help the hiker, who was able to hike out on his own, he said.

In addition to the satellite communication device, the hiker was well-prepared with plenty of food and water as well as the necessities he would have needed to stay overnight, had it come to that, Butler said. The rescue group cleared the mission around 8 p.m.

“He was really well prepared,” Butler said. “He was prepared to spend the night if he had to. He had the 10 essentials. He had the satellite communication device. But he also had a good attitude and was ready to spend more time there if he needed to.”

While the call for the hiker at Fletcher Mountain was ongoing, the Summit County Rescue Group got another call for an injured mountain biker near Francie’s Cabin, Butler said. The biker was close to the road, so rescuers were able to quickly carry the patient out to an ambulance, where they were transported to St. Anthony Summit Hospital, he said.

The calls continued Sunday, Sept. 1.

“Sunday kept going,” Butler said. “Sunday was our busy day for sure.”

Around 11:30 a.m., the rescue group received a call from a hiker who was experiencing a medical event while at Upper Willow Lake in the Eagles Nest Wilderness, Butler said. Summit County Rescue Group was able to coordinate with Flight for Life to have a helicopter land in the area and transport the hiker to the hospital, he said.

“What could have been a multi-hour mission — we’re probably talking 12 hours at a minimum — ended up being only two to three hours with the help of Flight for Life,” Butler said.

About 20-30 minutes after receiving the call for the hiker at Upper Willow Lake, the rescue group got another call for an injured mountain biker, this time in the French Creek drainage, Butler said. Rescuers responded with the assistance of the Red, White & Blue Fire Protection District and carried the biker out of the backcountry. The biker was transported to the hospital via ambulance.

Then, around 5:30 p.m. Sunday, the rescue group received a call from a bystander who saw a group of hikers on Mount Royal in Frisco and thought they might have been “cliffed out,” or stuck in a steep area where they did not feel comfortable going up or down, Butler said. Summit County Rescue Group deployed a drone but was unable to locate the hikers. But the rescue group did locate the hikers later back in Frisco to confirm they were OK, he said.

Around 8:30 p.m., the rescue group received another call from a bystander on the recpath in the Tenmile Canyon, who reported seeing lights on Mount Royal, Butler said. The rescue group responded and located a group of climbers who were “probably taking a bit longer than anticipated and climbed into the evening and into the night a bit,” he said.

“An important message for the general public is folks do go out and recreate during all hours of the day and night,” Butler said. “We appreciate these calls and there have been instances where these calls help us get a head start.”

Butler said that anyone who believes someone is in trouble in the backcountry should never hesitate to call for help. People who are out in the backcountry later than expected or who want to let search and rescue know that they’re OK, can call 911 or the nonemergency dispatch center at 970-668-8600, he said.

The final call Sunday night came in around 11:30 p.m. for an overdue utility terrain vehicle driver, Butler said. A sheriff’s deputy was the first on scene, and the UTV driver returned unharmed while the deputy was collecting info, he said.

“The message I want to get out here is stay together and have a good way to communicate with each other if you do get a little spread out,” Butler said, “because it is easy to get turned around on hiking trails, on UTV trails.

Then, final call of the Labor Day Weekend came in Monday, Sept. 2, around 3 p.m. for an injured mountain biker in French Creek in Breckenridge. Red, White & Blue helped respond and the mountain biker was able to hike out on her own, Butler said.

“It was another fairly quick one,” Butler said. “But for a lot of these calls throughout the week, it wasn’t just Summit County Rescue Group. It was a collaborative effort with Red, White & Blue. Summit Fire & EMS helped on one of these calls. And Flight for Life helped on one of these calls. The Summit County Sheriff’s Office helped on all of these calls. It’s a team effort to respond to these incidents and help out the people who are in need.”