Mitch and Megs stopped and settled Dean under an overhang out of the wind and rain as they worked out how to get him safely down a steep and narrow stretch of class three scramble. If they’d had rope and harnesses, this would be a lot easier.
Megs climbed the chute to get a feel for it. “I’ll carry his legs down, drape them over my shoulders like backpack straps, and you support his upper body. Or we could scoot on our asses and—”
“No. Just go. Head down before it gets dark. Get help.” Dean’s face was lined with pain. He fished his keys out of his pocket, held them out for Mitch. “Just leave me some food and water, maybe the first aid kit and an emergency blanket, too.”
Megs climbed back up to him. “I’m not leaving you here alone.”
“I’ll go.” Mitch took off his pack, grabbed the keys. “You can stay—”
“No! Both of you should go. I mean it. Go. What happens if you get hurt, Mitch? Megs and I will be stuck here all night not knowing what happened to you, and no one will know we’re here. It’s getting slick, turning to snow. Go—both of you—before this gets more dangerous than it already is.”
In the end, Mitch and Megs decided to do it his way, leaving him with their food and most of their water, as well as the first aid kit and the emergency blanket from Mitch’s pack.
Megs hugged him. “We’ll be back as soon as we can be.”
“You’re a good friend, Megs, and one hell of a climber. You can do this. Tell Beth not to worry. Tell her I love her and the kids and that I’ll be okay.”
“Will do.”
Mitch took his hand. “Stay warm and dry and hydrated, okay?”
“Got it. You’re a good man, Mitch. You stay safe and take care of our Megs.”
“I will.”
Then Megs and Mitch set off down the mountain.
It wasdark by the time they reached the parking area near the trailhead. Up on the summit, it was snowing hard. Down here, it was raining.
They climbed into Dean’s SUV and drove to the nearest gas station, where Mitch used the payphone to call 911.
He explained what had happened. “It’s snowing hard up there, and he has a broken leg. We need to mobilize a rescue and bring him down.”
Dispatch put him on hold for several minutes.
“What’s happening?” Megs asked.
“I think she’s patching me through to the Dolores County Sheriff’s Department.”
But when he had dispatch on the line again, the woman told him they would have to wait for any rescue until morning.
“There are blizzard conditions up there now with zero visibility. No pilot is going to fly a helicopter among those peaks in this storm.”
“Then we need a team of climbers to head up there with some kind of litter.”
“Sir, I’m sorry, but we don’t have officers available. We have reports of flooding in campgrounds along the Dolores River. I’m sorry, but no one is going up the mountain in this storm at night.”
Mitch had to fight not to shout. “Our friend is in pain! His life is in danger! He’s got a wife and kids. We need—”
“Our deputies have wives and children, too. The sheriff was firm on this. No one is heading up the peak until morning after the storm clears. If you’d like to help guide them to your friend, be at the trailhead by six tomorrow morning.”
Six in the morning? That was twelve hours from now.
“They’d damned well better show up then. We’ll be waiting.” Mitch slammed down the receiver. “That got us nowhere.”
“They aren’t sending a rescue team?” Megs gaped at him in disbelief.
“I don’t think they have one. It’s just the sheriff’s deputies.”
