A 30-year-old woman was critically injured when she was struck by and trapped under a 1,500-pound boulder while hiking at the popular North Table Mountain Park in Golden Wednesday afternoon.
As she was being rescued, the Golden Fire Department said she had multiple fractures and was unconscious, “but her vitals are fairly good.”
The woman’s legs were pinned under the boulder and it took more than two hours for rescue crews to free her. They used a hydraulic system that was hiked up to the scene, about an hour from the trailhead.
A team of about a dozen first responders then carried the woman about 45 minutes up a steep, snowy hill to a waiting Flight For Life helicopter. She was loaded on the chopper and then flown to an undisclosed hospital.
Golden fire spokeswoman Karlyn Tilley said the woman was hiking with a man to an area where they planned to mountain climb when the boulder fell.
“They were trying to just get to a place,” Tilley said. “They were looking around. The gentleman that was with her said he heard a large crack and looked up to see the boulder release. It just barely missed him.”
“It was a casual hike,” she added. “There was nothing unusual about the hike that they were on. It’s a very, very popular trail.”
Tilley says no one else was injured by the massive rock. Officials initially reported the injured woman was in a large group, but later clarified that information to say there were others nearby when the boulder broke loose.
Crews were dispatched to the scene at about 12:30 p.m. and it wasn’t until roughly 2:45 p.m. that authorities announced she had been freed.
Hiker has multiple fractures and is in critical condition. First responders are working to stabilize her and get the boulder off. pic.twitter.com/UlGUQG4YBc
— Golden Fire (@GoldenCOFire) April 5, 2017
Details on how the woman was struck by the boulder and her identity were not released.
“The focus has just been on getting her rescued,” Tilley said. “No one has been focused on the how and why. I think that will come next. They were not doing anything wrong. It happened so quick that she wasn’t able to get out of the way in time.”
Rockslides often occur during the spring freeze-thaw cycle. Large boulders can break free from mountainsides during drastic temperature changes.
Two paramedics from Littleton happened to be in the area when the woman became trapped. “They went up and were almost immediately able to start rendering aid to her,” Tilley said.
GFD & 5 or 6 other agencies are now working to rescue a female hiker trapped by a 1500 pound boulder on North Table Mtn. pic.twitter.com/kwuGF8JN3C
— Golden Fire (@GoldenCOFire) April 5, 2017
Roughly 10 emergency agencies worked to rescue the woman.
“Great teamwork by several agencies,” West Metro Fire Rescue said in a tweet.