A group of 15 office workers set out for the summit of Mount Shavano in Chaffee County Friday morning, but only 14 returned, search and rescue officials said.

According to officials with Chaffee County Search and Rescue South, a hiker was left stranded on the mountaintop as severe storms swept through the area. He was battered by freezing rain and high winds, causing him to fall dozens of times as he tried to escape the mountain.

The 15 hikers were on a work retreat and left the Blanks Cabin Trailhead at sunrise Friday morning. One group attempted to reach the summit and another group climbed the pass and returned, search and rescue officials said in a statement on social media.

“In what could lead to some awkward office encounters in the days and weeks ahead, one member of their party was left alone to complete his final attempt at the summit,” search and rescue officials said.

The man reached the summit of Mount Shavano around 11:30 a.m., but as he turned to descend, he became disoriented when he saw the group had picked up items used as route markers, search and rescue officials said.

He tried to descend the mountain, but quickly turned around and found himself in the steep rock and scree field on the northeast slopes toward Shavano Lake, search and rescue officials said. He sent his location to colleagues already descending and further down the mountain, who told him he was on the wrong trail and that he would have to climb back up the slope to find the right path.

The abandoned hiker finally reached the correct trail around 3:30 p.m. and texted his colleagues that he was back on track. Then a severe storm hit the area, bringing icy rain and high winds, causing him to drift off the correct trail and lose his cell phone reception, search and rescue officials said.

After hours of waiting, the 14 colleagues who had descended the mountain without their last hiker called Chaffee County Search and Rescue South and teams — including two “rush” teams and a drone pilot — were deployed to search the mountain around 9 p.m.

“The concept of a hasty team is a first response team of two or more highly trained, self-sufficient, and highly mobile search and rescue personnel whose primary responsibility is to monitor areas where they are most likely to produce a victim first,” according to La Plata County Search and Rescue. The teams are typically familiar with the terrain and can search the area quickly and efficiently.

From the man’s last known location, teams focused on clearing the trail and drainage areas.