Trapped Hiker Rescued From Dragontail Peak Area After Near 24 Hour Ordeal

A Seattle man was rescued late Saturday after nearly 24 hours near the base of Dragontail Peak in the Aasgard Pass area near Leavenworth, WA last weekend.

The Chelan County Sheriff's Office reported the 36 year old hiker was alone when he activated an S-O-S signal on an emergency InReach device around 9:30pm Friday.  The hiker reported he was trapped and freezing, according to Sgt. Jason Reinfeld of the Chelan County Sheriff's Office of Emergency Management.

The distress call was relayed to RiverCom Dispatch through the Washington State Department of Emergency Management

The stranded hiker's location was determined to be in the area of Isolation Lake near the base of Dragontail Peak.

The Chelan County Mountain Rescue volunteer group would not be able to reach the hiker due to avalanche risk in the Aasgard pass area so a hoist capable helicopter
was requested.

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A US Army Air Ambulance Detachment out of Yakima responded but were unable to reach the hiker due to weather.  On Saturday, two more attempts to rescue the hiker were also turned back due to the weather conditions.

Chelan County Mountain Rescue Volunteers and members of the Chelan County Volunteer Search and Rescue made plans to hike in to Colchuck Lake to meet the hiiker if he could descend or ift hey could hike up Aasgard Pass if conditions improved.

Reinfeld says just before 5pm Saturday, the weather cleared and the helicopter was able to fly to the hiker and hoist him out to safety.  The unidentified man was transported to Yakima Memorial Hospital in stable condition with cold related injuries.

Perhaps just in time.  Reinfeld said weather in the Dragontail Peak area was forecast to fall well below zero later that night