Area search and rescue crews were trying to get warm clothes to two bicyclists caught in the high country Wednesday night.
This is a life-and-death situation, Butch Knowlton, La Plata County Director of Emergency Preparedness, said at about 10 p.m. Theyre hypothermic, and we are gravely concerned.
Knowlton said the two people, who are on mountain bikes, have a GPS unit and had given their coordinates. They were at an elevation of 10,800 feet on a high ridge between the Hermosa area and the Dolores River Basin, northwest of Durango.
All they have on are T-shirts and shorts, Knowlton said. They were caught in heavy hail and rain between 4 and 5 p.m. He said the ridge where the cyclists were had been under a severe-storm warning by the National Weather Service at that time.
They became disoriented and lost the trail, he said.
Search and rescue volunteers from Montezuma and Dolores counties were attempting to reach them from the Dolores River Basin, and La Plata County Search and Rescue workers were going up from the east. Continuing storm cells complete with lightning were hampering efforts.
Were trying to get an aircraft to drop La Plata County Search and Rescue in to take them blankets and warm clothes, Knowlton said.
He didnt know the cyclists names or where they are from.
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