Hikers struck by lightning rescued from Colorado peak in record-breaking flight

Two out-of-state hikers were hoisted to safety in a record-breaking rescue, Colorado rescuers said.

On June 12, a team with the High-Altitude National Guard Aviation Training Site in Gypsum got reports of two hikers who were stranded near the summit of Torreys Peak in the Arapaho National Forest, according to a July 25 news release by the Colorado National Guard.

They had gotten caught in a storm and were struck by lightning at the peak of 14,200 feet, leaving one unresponsive, rescuers said.

A ground rescue operation wasn’t possible because of the storm and the hikers’ cellphone battery was “nearly dead,” rescuers said.

The four-person crew departed and used math calculations while taking the “weight of the helicopter, its fuel and the passengers” into consideration to determine if hoisting the hikers was safe, rescuers said.

“Power calculations were starting to turn in our favor. However, we were still too heavy,” crew chief Jeremy Hubbard said. “Constant power calculations continued for the next hour while we circled the summit.”

Eventually, the crew burned enough fuel to lighten the aircraft, and the pilot landed at the summit, rescuers said.

“Once the critical patient was onboard, we would then return to the peak to execute a two-wheel landing to load the ambulatory patient,” Hubbard said.

Before this, the record for a hoist rescue by a military aircraft in Colorado was 13,700 feet, rescuers said.

The hiker in critical condition was sent to a local hospital via an awaiting ambulance, and the other hiker was transferred to a burn unit in Denver, rescuers said.

Gypsum is about a 130-mile drive southwest from Denver.

This story was originally published July 31, 2025 at 6:17 PM with the headline "Hikers struck by lightning rescued from Colorado peak in record-breaking flight."