The Summit County Rescue Group responded to a 911 call at
approximately 2:00 pm on Sunday, December 27th for an injured speed
glider on Quandary Peak.
Speed gliding, a popular sport in Europe, involves skiing with a
foot-launched parachute which is smaller than a paragliding or sky
diving chute, and which may lift the skier off the ground
intermittently depending on the wind speed and direction. The sport
is also called speed flying or ski gliding.
Two men took off from the summit of Quandary, a 14,000 foot peak
south of Breckenridge, on Sunday afternoon. Their intention,
according to one of the men, was to ski down the East Ridge and
then make either a sharp right or left hand turn and glide to the
bottom. The first man launched his chute and glided successfully to
the bottom on the south side of the mountain. The second glider, a
40-year-old man from Michigan, reportedly "lost wind" and crashed
near the top, injuring himself.
Five bystanders, who happened to be hiking Quandary that day and
were not related to the injured man, stayed with him while he was
waiting for emergency responders and even assisted rescuers with
the beginning of the evacuation. The Summit County Rescue Group and
the Summit County Sheriff's Office would like to express their
sincere gratitude to these five hikers, who aided and expedited the
rescue effort significantly.
Flight for Life's Lifeguard One helicopter, based in Denver,
responded to the Summit County Rescue Group's request for
assistance and shuttled three rescuers and medical gear to a
landing zone approximately 1000 feet below the injured man. Vail
Mountain Rescue and Alpine Rescue Team responded to mutual aid
requests, and a total of 29 rescuers from the three teams were
dispatched into the field, most climbing the peak via the popular
East Ridge trail.
The patient was evacuated in a strenuous, eight-hour effort using
a combination of hand-carrying, sliding in a toboggan and belayed
lowering systems. The patient reached a waiting ambulance from the
Summit County Ambulance Service at approximately 11:15 pm.
According to the patient's companion, he was an experienced speed
gliding instructor with many hours of flight time.
The temperature was estimated at approximately -5 near the summit
of the peak during the evacuation.
Photo by Dale Atkins, from Alpine Rescue Team