Effort by CPW, Climbers at Lake City Ice Park Rescue Entangled Elk
Connecticut native Chris Yeager and his wife, Becky Young, live at Leadville, Colorado, and are avid ice climbers who make frequent weekend overnight expeditions to their favorite ice climbing park, Lake City.Chris and Becky — who say they much prefer Lake City to other climbing venues in Colorado due to the expanse of ice and lack of crowds — were camped overnight on Henson Creek at the upper Beer Garden ice climb area in their snug camper when they heard a suspicious rustling noise in the trees just above their camp.In the predawn light, Yeager recounts he had been up to let out the dog and was briefly readying the morning’s ropes and other climbing gear when he heard the noise.Located straight above their camp, across Henson Creek, the rustling noise was in a small grove of cottonwoods on a precipitous slope perhaps 20’ above the frozen creek bed.In the dim light, he says he could make out the shape of a rather large, light brownish animal with long blackish-brown muzzle and antlers which was thrashing about on the slope in the undergrowth.Already fitted for the upcoming day’s ice climb at the Beer Garden Ice Climb Park, Yeager and Young
