An office retreat in Colorado’s Rocky Mountains turned disastrous last weekend for one of the 15 employees: He became separated from his colleagues, who work in the insurance industry, and had to make his own way down the steep terrain of a mountain.

The man got lost and spent the night on the slopes of Mount Shavano, where he was battered by high winds and icy conditions. And because he fell repeatedly on the rocky, steep terrain, rescue teams had to use a stretcher to get him down the mountain after he was finally found on Saturday.

The nightmarish ordeal “could lead to some awkward encounters in the office in the days and weeks ahead,” said Chaffee County Search and Rescue South, which led the man’s rescue effort.

The volunteer search and rescue team has not identified the man, but told NPR he is in his 50s.

“I will say that the hiker was not completely abandoned by his group, but they split up on the last portion of the trail to the summit,” leaving him alone, Evan Brady, public information officer for Chaffee County SAR South, told NPR.

How the hiker got separated from the group

The insurance workers met at sunrise last Friday to begin their trek up Mount Shavano. The mountain is a “fourteener” — meaning it’s one of Colorado’s peaks that is higher than 14,000 feet. They then split into smaller groups, with some aiming to reach the summit and others hiking to the lower “saddle” of the mountain before turning back.

The lone hiker, dressed all in black, somehow found himself between these two groups. After reaching the summit at 11:30 a.m., he became disoriented when he tried to descend on his own. Complicating his task further, his colleagues had picked up bits of gear the team had left behind to mark their path through the boulders.

When the man attempted to descend, he “was caught in the steep rock and scree field on the northeast slopes toward Shavano Lake,” the rescue team said. He used his cell phone to send GPS pins of his location to his colleagues, who told him to backtrack and find the trail.

After about four hours, the man texted his coworkers to say he was close to the trail, still high on the mountain. But then “a severe storm passed through the area with freezing rain and high winds, and he became disoriented again, losing his cell phone signal,” according to Chaffee County Search and Rescue.

At sunset, two office workers went back up to look for the man, Brady said. Unfortunately, they had no luck and returned as darkness fell over the mountain.

At 9pm, a call went out from a late hiker, which sent search teams, a drone and a helicopter into action. But with the storm bringing more wind and ice, it was too unsafe for the teams to reach the summit.

A break, and the missing hiker is found

Finally, with teams from at least nine agencies helping with the search, a breakthrough came Saturday morning. The hiker’s phone regained enough reception to call 911. He was found in a ravine; he told rescuers he had fallen at least 20 times while trying to get down the mountain.

“The first crews to reach him reported that he was relieved to be found and excited,” Brady said. After the complex task of getting the man off the mountain, he was taken to a hospital for evaluation and treatment.

“He is at home with his family recovering after a brief hospitalization,” Brady said.

For anyone – or any office group – planning a similar excursion, Brady has some advice: Stick together.

“Hikers breaking away from groups, whether voluntarily or accidentally, is the biggest cause of lost hikers,” he said.

And just to be sure: make sure your phone is fully charged.