Colorado climbers rescue elk trapped in rope
Jan 7, 2025, 4:00 PM
A bull elk in Lake City? Normal. A bull elk belaying down an ice wall in Lake City? Not so much.
Three ice climbers, Chris, Chris and Becky, stumbled upon a bull elk entrapped in climbing rope near ice walls in Lake City, a small town situated in the San Juan Mountains, on Friday.
Credit: Colorado Parks and Wildlife Southwest Region
Credit: Colorado Parks and Wildlife Southwest Region
The discovery prompted the climbers to call Colorado Parks and Wildlife Southwest Region, and Lucas Martin, the Lake City wildlife officer, went to aid the animal with some backup. Backup, in this case, included CPW biologist Alyssa Meier, seasonal technician Paul Rivera and deer and elk survival technician Anna Markey.
Credit: Colorado Parks and Wildlife Southwest Region
According to CPW SW’s post on their X, formerly known as Twitter, account, after the elk was tranquilized with a dart, the crew was able to interact closely with it. The group cut away the rope from the animal’s antlers and were in search of a way to get it down the steep climbing wall safely.
That’s when the climbers’ expertise came into play.
Credit: Colorado Parks and Wildlife Southwest Region
The climbers helped Martin, Meier, Rivera and Markey rig up the elk, and the elk was soon being belayed down the wall and toward safety. Once the animal was back on the ground, CPW SW reversed the tranquilizer. About 12 minutes passed when the elk, in the words of CPW SW, “popped back up and ran off down the canyon.”
The post wrapped up the successful rescue story by warning of the “many various tangle hazards wildlife can get caught in.”
Credit: Colorado Parks and Wildlife Southwest Region
