Injured hiker rescued after 500-foot fall from Mount Yale

An injured hiker was rescued after falling some 500 feet from Mount Yale last week. The task was so intense that rescue crews had to spend the night on the 14,200-foot mountain with the hiker in bitter-cold temperatures. 

Chaffee County Search and Rescue rushed to help the hiker who had broken bones, a head injury and eventually hypothermia and frostbite. They needed axes to reach the injured hiker. 

Crews brought warm gear and spent the night with the hiker in five-degree weather with 20 to 30-mph wind gusts. 

By 8:30 the next morning, crews were able to get the hiker out and to the hospital by helicopter.