Crestone Needle | Fourteener Hoist Rescue | Making Dangerous Things Look Easy | Blackhawks in Action

The Colorado Hoist Rescue Team is a partnership between the Colorado Army National Guard and four search and rescue teams throughout the state. Together, they conduct rescues in the most difficult to reach places in Colorado.

In Sept. 2020, they were called to a rescue on one of Colorado's most famous and dangerous peaks, Crestone Needle, of the Sangre de Cristo Mountain Range. With a height of 14,203 feet, the elevation, weather, and terrain make rescues of any kind especially dangerous.

This video shows the complete story... starting with the two climbers that called for help all the way through the aftermath of the rescue which awarded the crew the prestigious DUSTOFF award.

Army Aviation Units:
High-Altitude Army National Guard Training Site | Colorado Army Aviation Support Facility

Search and Rescue:
Alpine Rescue Team | Vail Mountain Rescue Group | Rocky Mountain Rescue Group | Mountain Rescue Aspen | Colorado Search & Rescue

0:00 Intro
0:48 Finding a climbing partner online
1:56 "It's hard to trust your life with a stranger"
2:39 Overview of Ellingwood Ledges
3:28 Leading up to the fall/ the fall itself
5:39 Where do we go from here?
8:01 Search and Rescue receives call
8:59 The Pilot receives the call
10:17 Crew Chief looks at mission requirements
10:56 Rescue Techs pack their bags
12:12 Flying out to the Mountain
13:14 First Pass of Climbers
15:48 Taking a step back to evaluate the situation
17:15 Getting approval for a dangerous mission/ Beginning the rescue
19:26 First Rescue
23:47 Second Rescue
26:13 The Aftermath
27:52 Where do we go from here?

#CrestoneNeedle #colorado #searchandrescue #rockclimbing #armyaviation #armynationalguard #fourteener #14ers #14er #blackhawk #uh60

Video by U.S. Army Capt. Remington Henderson

Special Thanks to:
SSG Ray Rivera
Joe King
KDVR
KCNC-TV
KRDO
Channel 9

** Music by Secession Studios **
Agoraphobia - Augmentations
Imaginarium - Where Dreams Begin
Persecution - The Untold
Fables - The Untold II
The World Burns Around Us - Entering Light
Bionic Awakening - Augmentations
Kinetic Outbreak - Augmentations
To Boldly Go - Legendary
Bold and Brave - Heart of Darkness
The Untold - The Untold
Vindication - The Untold
Farewell Light - Entering Light

The full uncut GoPro rescue footage can be found here:
And here:

Also, the one-wheel landing clip of Maroon Bells can be found here:

Nederland International Film Festival - Best Short Documentary

Advertisements are not official endorsements by the Colorado National Guard, The music rights holder may have chosen to place ads on it. YouTube may also place ads on videos in channels not in the YouTube Partner Program.

[TheChip]

“If you’re going to do really dangerous things, you have to be really good at doing them.”

Love it

[douglassmith]

My family was rescued by these guys in August of 2018. They have got to be the best in the world. So grateful for Vail Mountain Rescue. Truly life saving, extremely skilled and selfless They literally save my daughter's life. She would not have survived another 24 hours and she is the mother of 3. Helicopter rescue.

[ihavenoideawhatimdoing]

When my dad and I climbed the needle we ran into a group that had spent the night on the mountain after climbing the arette. They didn't need rescue, they just knew it would take a long time and brought a lightweight tent with them. The area they camped was, like where the rescue happened, a dinner table sized ledge with 1000ft drop on both sides. Something to know about the rock on the Crestones is that its a double edged sword. The rock is extremely solid and stable, the best climbing rock I've ever seen in my life. It also doesn't have many cracks on it making gear placement impossible in most places. Also these guys were so lucky that they had cell service to call for rescue, most of these mountains don't.

[thegamingwarlord]

This is a downright beautiful documentary that showcases the vulnerable human element behind missions like this that most people never get to see. The average person only gets a glimpse of what missions like these are like through watered-down, glamoured-up news reports that they see on TV. Hats off to this SAR team for successfully carrying out such a difficult mission, and to CPT Henderson for putting this documentary together.

[sunnybeach]

I have the highest respect for these men and rescue operators

[snosqrl]

As both a climber and a Helicopter pilot... I love this on SO MANY levels! Well done to ALL involved!

[Ryanmathewsc]

So easy to take for granted how much goes into a rescue operation. Wonderful glimpse into that world.

[NathanJones-sfjs]

The description of their rescue plan around 16 minutes in is some of the most fascinating stuff I’ve learned in a while. The amount of nimble intelligence it takes to pull something like this off is astonishing.

[drewzanoff]

Just one of the many amazing rescues that the Colorado Army National Guard flight crews preform that are based on Buckley and up at HAATS on Eagle Airport.

[lieslh]

Dang I watched eight minutes before I realized I was totally sucked in 😂 great story telling, it communicated the drama and fear of their experience and I appreciated the inclusion of climbing vocab explanations

[Mrwhomeyou]

Not to shit on the guy but if you can climb back up to your highpoint, your climbing partner was right, should've rappel down instead of risking the rescuer.

[sjleflar]

Stellar production! Thank you for sharing our story!

[donuttyme]

Incredible! Amazing what these aircrews and rescue teams can do! Thanks Colorado Army National Guard!

[SwimTillIDie]

What an amazing story. Kudos to those rescue techs and the national guard!

[greasyweezel]

very nice production - showing what actually happened -

[kimb]

These guys are absolutely incredible. Risking their own lives because of others poor decisions. All these rescuers easily could have died. And yet, they went in there to save the lives of two people they don't know.

[Smirn]

An incredible production from Remington Henderson. Well done! Thank you for sharing our story!

[pennypackmtb]

There is no greater cause then to rescue those in danger. These men are every bit of the meaning of "HERO". Their call to rescue, is their battle field. I am a former Army Medic, and these men's call to duty, far exceeded mine.

[AlexWitkowicz]

Amazing footage here, and really interesting to see how this type of rescue happens. I’ve attempted Crestone Needle twice in the past few years, that mountain is the real deal!

[donaldmorrill]

I did all my peak-bagging before cell phones and the internet were invented. Thank God I never needed a rescue. Awesome video! I could feel my hands sweating just watching.