Gloria Liu was waiting for her fiancé to ride home from another one of his intense workouts on Saturday when she received a call from a phone number she didn’t recognize. The voice on the other end of the phone was a police officer who wanted to know if she was familiar with 34-year-old Andrew […]
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Posted inColoradans, News, Newsletters, Outdoors, Outsider
Remember the Fort Collins trail runner who killed an attacking mountain lion? Here’s what his life has been like since.
FORT COLLINS — Travis Kauffman says he’s glad his 15 seconds of fame has come and gone. Five and a half months after he killed a mountain lion with his bare hands during a trail run in Fort Collins, Kauffman says he’s back to being an ordinary guy. The injuries the 32-year-old environmental engineer suffered […]
Posted inColoradans, Culture, Education, Health, News
A car wreck claimed one of 15-year-old gymnast Jessica Womble’s legs — but not a bit of her competitive spirit
RIFLE — The faded motivational message painted on the gymnasium wall reads: “Risk: It’s impossible to get up if we never learn to fall.” Jessica Womble’s leg swings between her metal crutches as she passes before the words without notice. She is focused on getting to the uneven bars with her teammates for her first […]
Posted inColoradans, Environment, News, Outdoors
When people die in the outdoors, help for their loved ones is scarce. The climbing community aims to change that.
Death and injury are a part of climbing, much more so than most other sports. A group of Coloradans think it’s time to learn how to talk about it. For the climbers pushing boundaries in the sport, death is all too familiar. In 2017, top alpinist Ueli Steck fell to his death while acclimating for […]
Posted inColoradans, Environment, News, Outdoors
A Colorado photographer thought he was alone in the Wyoming mountains. Then he heard a rescue helicopter.
Satellite messengers can save your life in the backcountry. Press the SOS button on your palm-sized Garmin or Spot device — the two most widely used brands — and search and rescue rains resources down on your emergency, no matter where or what it is. Colorado leads the Rocky Mountain region with 103 search and […]
Posted inColoradans, Health, News, Outdoors
Gore Otteson had no heartbeat for 55 minutes. Rescuer, doctors led by instinct and faith saved him.
SURVIVORS: Part of a Colorado Sun series on close calls in the outdoors and life after a crisis Eight years after Gore Otteson was pinned for 25 minutes under icy water in a mountain ditch, his parents share their story of faith and living without fear. Amy Otteson cries every so often as she reads […]
Posted inColoradans, News, Outdoors
“If I can prevent at least one kid from going through what my kid goes through every day, I will do whatever it takes. I have to.”
SURVIVORS: Part of a Colorado Sun series on close calls in the outdoors and life after a crisis Ian Lamphere was sitting in his home office when he was struck with an idea. He yelled down to his fiancée, Elizabeth. “I don’t know, he’d read something about someone dying, and all the sudden, he says, […]
Posted inColoradans, News, Outdoors
“It was like he was an angel”: How a well-prepared ER doctor on skis saved a boy’s life after a mountain crash
SURVIVORS: Part of a Colorado Sun series on close calls in the outdoors and life after a crisis. His buddy was ribbing him about the big backpack he wore skiing every day. “He was saying, ‘Man that’s dumb. When are you ever going to use that thing?’ ” said Dr. Heston LaMar, a North Carolina […]
Posted inColoradans, News, Outdoors
“I had to reinvent myself. I’m back but I’m different:” A southwest Colorado man recovers from a devastating mountain climbing fall
SURVIVORS: A series on close calls and heroes in the Colorado outdoors MANCOS — It had been a hard summer for Thad Ferrell. He’d been hammering away at his construction job and not climbing as much as he wanted. So when he had a free day, he called his climbing partner Lizzy Scully. She also […]