:)
Posted on 08/18/2012 5:45:57 PM PDT by AlmaKing
Re: Dog Found: Mt. Bierstadt! by aortolani14 » Tue Aug 14, 2012 4:34 am
Hi all,
I am the owner of the German Shepard girl found on Mt. Bierstadt.
I need to know the name of the vet clinic that Missy is at so I can go see her and re-reimburse them for helping her, and if I am fortunate enough, to bring her home.
I am at a complete loss of words. My gratitude for the people involved in this is without measure.
Missy was hurt during an attempt at crossing the Sawtooth. It was Missy, a friend and I. Her paws got bloodied up right in the belly of the sawtooth. I was assisting her with the climb using ropes and a harness for a while but she kept getting hurt worse. A few kind hikers stopped and offered some assistance but incoming weather pushed people off of the saddle. My friend and I realized that we could not get Missy up the saddle to Evans or Bierstadt safely so we decided to bail off of the saddle into the valley between the two mountains to escape the incoming clouds. We were lowering her for a while with ropes from boulder to boulder but she was hurting herself worse against the rocks sprawling out and catching them with her legs. Eventually she just stopped standing or moving at all and I knew she was pretty badly hurt. I picked her up on my shoulders and was hopping from boulder to boulder but I couldn't keep her on me. I dropped her once and I almost fell once too and I realized that I couldn't carry her off of the mountain. At this point I made the decision that I honestly never thought I would even be faced with. I left her there so that my friend and I could get down safely with intentions of calling S&R when we were off of the mountian. We both spent about two hours trying to move her up and down the mountain and were pretty exhausted. Neither one of us wanted to hike up the saddle with the cloud cover growing so we continued down into the valley and hiked back to Guanella Pass Rd. It was a lot farther than we thought it would be, and we got lost several times. A group of hunters showed us the way out and gave us a ride back to our car. Thank you to them as well.
I called the 911, the sheriffs office and search and rescue and I was told that it was to risky for them to send rescue crew up there for a dog, which was upsetting but understandable. I'll admit that while trying to get off of the the mountain I was not as concerned because I was focused on making it safely off of the mountain, but once I was safely at my car I was overwhelmed with the loss, and the decision to leave her there. The next couple of days was absolutely horrible wondering about her, if she was alive, or if she died. Thinking about her suffering was awful beyond words. Many confidants comforted me by saying that she was probably gone from injury. All I can say is that I am relieved that she is okay, I am ashamed that it was not me that started this thread, I am ashamed that it wasn't me who got her off of the mountain, I underestimated the good will and resolve of the hiking community of Colorado, and I am eternally grateful to all of you and to 9news. I humbly beg the forgiveness of the community and most of all my Missy Girl. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart.Top --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
aortolani14 ProfilePrivate messageE-mail aortolani1414er Peak List Not Entered Posts: 20 Joined: Tue Aug 14, 2012 4:05 amReport this postReply with quoteRe: Dog Found: Mt. Bierstadt! by aortolani14 » Tue Aug 14, 2012 5:13 am
I am reading through all of these threads, and I am just in awe of how heroic and amazing everyone is that did this. I also see all of the anger and hatred towards me and the decision that I made. I feel that I deserve it all. I made it in a panic to be sure, and what I felt was a survival situation. I didn't think to post on 14er's.com to ask for everyone to come fix my colossal mistake in judgement. It is truly amazing that all of you did it on your own. I don't have proper words. It was several days before I would have even been able to even think of walking back up Bierstadt much less into the sawtooth and to try and carry Missy out, and after that I just thought it would be to late. I honestly never thought that I could just ask strangers to go check the sawtooth and carry my 112lb German Shepard out. I don't know what to say. Thank you again to the community, and to those who are angry I am so so sorry. Missy has done 6 14'ers and she loves being out there in the mountains. She depends on me to make smart choices, and taking her into the sawtooth was beyond foolish.
:)
ROTFLMAO!!! Where’s his tin cup?
Hmmm....my ditsiness isn’t on a timer...it’s pretty much free-flowing, 24/7.
;D
He’s not getting one, that’s where!
[sheesh...the tiny harmonica and squeaky “Nobody know de trouble Ah seed. Nobody know, but me” in the middle of the night is bad enough!]
LOL
Yeah, but my two o’clock ditz is ditsier than my one o’clock ditz. Ditz you understand?
HahaHahahaHAhahA!!! You mean, he don’t sound like Leon Redbone? :-D
Geeze... spoil that snake, girl...
My noonish ditz is spectacular.
That’s when I hit uber-ditz.
;]
...and he don’t sing like Leonard Cohen? He’s just squeaky, little ol’ bluesy Alice?
*Not even*.
More like Alvin Chipmunk.
Well, if he’s gonna sulk he may as well do it in style.
Actually, he readjusted to ‘prison life’ and is back to his old, cuddly self.
Sometimes he lays on my lap and FReeps with me.
[which accounts for some of the weirder things I write, at least]
LOLOLOL! “Uber-ditz”? Is that like the German video game, or is it when you hit the ultimate rinse cycle and start spinning out? If so, I want to try it.
Mason passed away in his sleep awhile back. He lived with us for about six months and then retired out at humblegunner’s place in the country.
Very sweet dog he was.
OMG...that is the cutest face *ever*!
[I think maybe I would’na even put up any posters]
;]
Each person on one side of a room, and the dog in the middle.
The dog goes to the person he chooses.
-PJ
It’s more like a “mental leave of absence”.
[I blame it on gamma rays from the straight-overhead sun]
-PJ
I’m glad to hear about his readjustment, but how does a lap-sitting snake named Alice, FReep?
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