UPDATE: Hiker gains respect for snowy peak

After spending a cold night Sunday on Pikes Peak wedged in a makeshift snow cave, Warren Edick II said he plans a slight adjustment as he pursues his passion for “extreme hiking.”

“If there’s snow on Pikes Peak, I’m no longer going to go out there and spend the night above tree line,” the 42-year-old said Tuesday.

Edick and his Labrador-border/collie-heeler mix, Luna, set off for a planned weeklong trek across the mountain’s flank Sunday morning. The plan changed dramatically that night when his tent collapsed under the weight of deep spring snowfall.

Edick used a cell phone about 12:30 a.m. to call his wife, and she called for help.

Rescuers arrived less than 10 hours later, bringing Edick a pair of snowshoes before hiking him back to Barr Camp, where they left him Monday night.

Tuesday, Edick hiked off the mountain and reflected on his ordeal.

“I was buried alive,” he said.

Edick spent five weeks planning his trek, and he said that forecasts Sunday morning for an inch or 2 of snow on the mountain did not seem reason to change his mind. His wife drove him about 13 miles up the Pikes Peak Highway Sunday morning, and a ranger drove him a mile farther when the road became impassable because of ice.

He started hiking along Elk Park trail about 10 a.m., and at first encountered slopes covered mostly with just ice. But after about 2½ miles, the trail flattened and the snow got deep.

Edick said he got bogged down in snow up to his waste about a dozen times before deciding to pitch camp and spend the night.

Things became desperate hours later when the tent collapsed under 3 or more feet of new snow, forcing Edick to pack the snow around him into a boxlike cave, which he stabilized with his tent poles.

Edick said the miscalculation for the trip that got him into trouble was deciding not to bring snowshoes.

Eleven volunteers with El Paso County Search and Rescue ultimately slogged across miles of snowy mountainside to bring Edick back to safety.

Steve Sperry, the group’s spokesman, said one lesson apparent in Edick’s case is that weather forecasts, even if they call only for light snow for most of the region, should be taken seriously by anyone heading into the high country.

“Pikes Peak is its own weather maker,” Sperry said.

Although Edick said he plans to continue going on ambitious hikes, sometimes traveling dozens of miles in a day, a safer approach makes sense when thinking about heading above tree line in the snow.

“The fun goes into the background when you’re fighting for your survival,” Edick said.

CONTACT THE WRITER: 476-4813 or anthony.lane@gazette.com