A Hiker Was Trapped High on a 14er. A Drone With a Flashlight Came to the Rescue.

Late last month, Colorado’s Summit County Rescue Group (SCRG)  received a call from the mother of an overdue 19-year-old hiker who’d set out to hike the 14,271-foot Quandary Peak one day. According to the hiker’s mother, he’d forgotten his headlamp, and his phone battery was nearly dead. As weather conditions began deteriorating, rescuers decided to use a drone to locate the hiker prior to beginning the ascent to meet him.

While hikers often view Quandary Peak as one of Colorado’s “easier” 14ers thanks to its uncomplicated walkup and an ascent route that largely avoids avalanche hazards, winter conditions can make for slippery, cold, and unpredictable hiking. In 2025, the peak broke a record for hosting 219 rescues, breaking its previous one-year record by two incidents.

The drone operator located the hiker at about 9 p.m. Prior to the drone’s second trip to the hiker, Brian Binge, the incident commander, and local sheriff’s deputies teamed up to rig a system to carry the hiker a flashlight to use while rescuers ascended to meet him.

“This is the first time we’ve used a drone to transport an object to a person needing help,” said Aaron Parmet, a public information officer and team leader with SCRG. “We use drones quite a bit to locate parties in need of help, to determine the complexity of a rescue, and even to determine if rescue is needed. With thermal cameras we can even determine if an avalanche is fresh or old.”

Binge told Backpacker that being able to locate the hiker’s whereabouts simplified the rescue process, “We weren’t able to do anything to interact with him, but we were able to guide our teams,” he said.  Eventually, rescuers reached the hiker and guided him back to the trailhead, where he reunited with his grandparents.

Binge said the team is interested in potentially using drones to deliver essential items like radios, emergency supplies, and other life-saving equipment. Still, Parmet noted that drones have significant limitations.

“There is plenty of weather in which drones cannot fly, and places that they cannot reach,” he said. Parmet emphasized that just because a drone may be able to drop a lifesaving piece of gear to a hiker doesn’t absolve recreationists of the responsibility to carry necessary safety gear.

“This mission utilized volunteer backcountry SAR personnel in a rescue operation,” he said. “It was not simply a courtesy service.”