Find out how drones helped with rescue of Colorado climbers on cliff hundreds of feet off the ground

As Colorado sees warmer weather, the Rocky Mountain Rescue Group is preparing to receive more calls from climbers in need of help. On April 12, volunteers spent six hours helping three climbers stuck in Eldorado Canyon.

James Stewart is a volunteer with RMRG and rappelled down the rock to help the climbers hundreds of feet off the ground.

"I've done a fair amount of what we call pick-offs," Stewart said, "It's not that common for us to do rescues with such a large vertical cliff below."

But that's where Stewart says volunteers with the Boulder Emergency Squad flew drones that helped cut the rescue time inside Eldorado Canyon State Park in half. The drones lit up the rocks and kept an eye on the climbers.

"When you're going over the edge, you can't actually see the climbers below, so you have to traverse a little bit and then just blindly pick a spot to start going down," Stewart said of a typical rescue. "[Drone operators] gave me some measurements on how far left or right I needed to go. The measurements they gave me landed me right on top of [the climbers]."

Stewart brought the climbers jackets and helped them back up to the top, where another RMRG volunteer, Kara Beaton, was there to meet them.

Beaton advised, "It's always better to get to you before you have a big injury, or before you're really lost," she said, "It's great to be able to walk out with a patient, as opposed to having to carry them out. So, we really appreciate that they called us for help before it got too hard."

After about six hours, everyone was back on the ground. But with warmer weather on the way, RMRG wants everyone to be ready for their next climb, as the group receives about 200 calls a year, peaking in the summer. The team is all volunteer, so every rescue is free.

"Do what you love to do. Boulder is great for that, but make sure you're prepared. Take extra layers. Take some extra water, take your food. Take a headlamp if you think you might be out past dark," Beaton said.

RMRG also advised climbers that, however long it took a climber to get where they got stuck, it'll take RMRG just as long to rescue them.