CBSAR called into action at Gothic Mountain Tour

Quick decisions make the difference

ByThan Acuff 

Each year that Crested Butte Nordic puts on the Gothic Mountain Tour, Crested Butte Search and Rescue (CBSAR) is asked to be a part of it stationed in the Top of the World area at the top of Washington Gulch for a variety of tasks from checking bibs to maintaining an aid station for racers.

They’re also stationed there in case something goes awry and during the Gothic Mountain Tour race on Saturday, February 22, something started to go south for one racer in particular. Ultimately, had CBSAR not been there, things could have turned out much worse.

It was a tough start to the day for CBSAR as access to their station proved tough having to move equipment into place by snowmobile and on foot traveling on a punchy snowpack in the early morning hours.

“It was a major effort to get the sleds and our rescue gear out there,” says CBSAR mission coordinator Ben Breslauer. “We had to make sure everything was out and mission ready.”

Breslauer and four additional CBSAR team members were ready when the race leader skied through at 9 a.m. and they started their aid station and bib check efforts on what was a sunny and warm day in the mountains.

Things then took a turn at 11:40 a.m. when a couple of racers came through the checkpoint after climbing up out of the Gothic valley via the 403 drainage and alerted Breslauer of a potential health situation.

“A couple of racers came through and said a guy was having some stroke-like symptoms and they gave me a description of what he was wearing,” says Breslauer.

Breslauer headed down from the Top of the World knoll to look down into the drainage and found a racer that matched the description, about 100 yards from the top of the climb.

“He gave a wave, made his way up and we sat him down,” says Breslauer. “He said, ‘I knew to get down, I had to get up’.”

While the patient was cognizant, it was evident he was struggling to hold his ski pole or do much of anything with his left hand. Breslauer immediately radioed the medical professional CBSAR team members that were on another portion of the course nearby and they agreed on a meeting spot. Upon a more thorough assessment, the CBSAR team loaded the racer on the back of CBSAR’s two-seater snowmobile and Breslauer drove him down the Washington Gulch trailhead to meet an ambulance for transport. All told, it took just 45 minutes from when Breslauer first encountered the racer at an elevation of 11,400 feet and over seven miles from the trailhead to the ambulance.

“Time is of the essence, especially when you have a potential stroke,” says Breslauer. “It was a serious medical issue and a serious medical rescue. Big thanks to the team. I was just doing my job getting him out of there.”

“It’s instances like these that reiterate how important it is to maintain these partnerships with entities like CBSAR,” says Crested Butte Nordic events director Linsey Bachofer. “His health is largely due to CBSAR’s quick thinking and evacuation process which allowed him to get additional care.”