Hiker on an office retreat left stranded on Colorado mountainside, rescued the next day

What started as an office work retreat ended with one man being rescued after spending a night stranded on a Colorado mountain.

Search and rescue workers in Chaffee County, Colorado, were notified around 9:00 p.m. local time on August 23 of an overdue hiker who had not returned from a group that had spent the day climbing to the summit of Mount Shavano, a more than 14,000-foot peak in the Rocky Mountains.

The man was part of a group of 15 people on a work retreat who became separated from the group while ascending the mountain.

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Trapped overnight by a storm

After reaching the summit at around 11:30 a.m. that day, the man reportedly became disoriented while trying to descend, as other members of his group had already picked up various trail markers signaling their route. Finding himself in a boulder field on the northeast slope of the mountain, the hiker used his phone to share his location with his coworkers, who informed him that he was on the wrong route.

The hiker then began returning to the summit, but was caught in a storm around 4:00 p.m., according to Chaffee County search and rescue officials.

Exposed to freezing rain and high winds, and having lost cellphone reception, the man became stranded on the mountainside.

Chaffee County search and rescue officials, assisted by a helicopter and a drone, spent the evening braving the storm to search the area for the man, but could not find any artificial sources of light or other traces of the stranded hiker.

By Saturday morning, aided by other regional search and rescue groups, the search was expanded, and the hiker regained cellphone reception long enough to call 911.

The man reported that he had fallen at least 20 times while trying to descend the mountain and had become unable to move.

“This hiker was phenomenally lucky to have regained cell service when he did, and to still have enough consciousness and wherewithal to call 911,” Chaffee County Search and Rescue said in a statement. “Though he was located in a tertiary search area, it would have been some time before teams made it to that location on their own.”

Once located, the man was stabilized and evacuated to a local hospital for further care.

Max Hauptman is a Trending Reporter for USA TODAY. He can be reached at MHauptman@gannett.com