more at link …
http://www.backpacker.com/articles/17837
Two hikers are stranded on Longs Peak, awaiting rescue amidst Colorado's flood chaos.
Connie Yang and Suzanne Turell sent a series of emergency texts from 13,400 feet at around 9:07 AM yesterday, according to Yang's sister, Winnie. The two hikers indicated that they were off-trail and attempting to wait out an ice storm on the mountain's south ridge.
The status of rescue efforts remains unclear. Emergency personnel in the area are stretched thin due to the ongoing damage from yesterday's historic flash flooding in Boulder, Lyons, Estes Parks, and other areas of Colorado's Front Range.
friends and family are appealing for help directly to anyone
http://helpconnieandsuz.tumblr.com/
I received a series of texts from my sister, Connie Yang, and her girlfriend, Suzanne Turell, from Suzanne’s cell phone the morning of Thursday, September 12, 2013, between 9.07 and 9.12am. It is now 1.48am on September 13.
Connie and Suzanne have plenty of backcountry experience — they go on such trips for several weeks at a time every year — and would not get in touch unless it were really a dire emergency. I called the backcountry office after receiving these texts, and the rangers have been trying to get in touch with them, but no one’s heard from them since the last message I received, so I can only assume that their battery died. They do not have crampons or ice axes with them.
There have been a couple of attempts to get search teams out, but the roads are impassable due to all the heavy flooding in Colorado — the area is in a state of emergency — so it’s been nearly impossible for anyone to even reach the trailhead, and visibility has been too poor for a helicopter to go in.
At this point our objectives are:
– that the forest rangers put a sizable party together and do their very best to get to Connie and Suzanne as soon as possible;
– that the rangers authorize the military to help their effort, particularly the Special Forces school at Fort Carson;
– that the National Guard send a helicopter at the first opportunity knowing the weather is going to get worse over the weekend.
Please get the word out any way you can; call AP, Reuters, local CO news, senators, etc.
