Emergency responders rescued a hiker stuck near the top of Smelter Mountain on its eastern side Saturday afternoon.
The man was not hurt, but he got stuck just below the cliffs on the mountain. Members of the search and rescue team were able to walk him out at about 2:20 p.m., said Ron Corkish, president of La Plata County Search and Rescue.
“He just kept going up and up and up until he couldn’t go up anymore ... I think he was kind of bushwhacking it,” he said.
The man was from out of town and not familiar with the area.
The search was coordinated with help from spotters on the roof of the Durango Fire and Rescue station near Camino Del Rio.
“That was the perfect vantage point to see the subject,”Corkish said.
The hiker couldn’t see above the cliff band and the rescuers couldn’t see over it. So the people on the ground were relying on directions from the spotters.
The man called in about 12:40 p.m. Once search and rescue located him, reaching him only took about 20 minutes, Corkish said.
mshinn@durangoherald.com
