It took hours for rescuers to a free a man whose leg was trapped under a boulder that weighed between 1,500 and 3,000 pounds, according to a release from the Boulder County Sheriff's Office.
Just before 2 p.m., Thursday the sheriff’s office and numerous other agencies responded to a call about the trapped hiker. He was said to be on the Eldorado Canyon Trail, possibly in Eldorado Canyon State Park. Most of the trail is within the park, but a portion of it is just outside of it. It's unclear exactly where the man was trapped.
Search and rescue personnel began searching the area along the Eldorado Canyon Trail and met a witness who escorted them to the victim. The man was located in a scree field with a large boulder on his lower leg.
Crews estimated that the boulder weighed between 1,500 and 3,000 pounds. Due to the large size, it took rescue personnel from multiple agencies several hours to extricate, stabilize, and carry the victim out of the field to an ambulance. He was taken to the hospital with serious, but non-life threatening injuries, the sheriff's office said.
Crews from the Rocky Mountain Rescue Group, Rocky Mountain Fire, City of Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks, City of Boulder Fire, City of Lafayette Fire, and North Metro Fire assisted with the incident.
