Skier Saves 3 in Mountain Plane Crash
A cross-country skier happened across three injured people Wednesday huddling in the wreckage of a small plane that had crashed several hours earlier on the Continental Divide.
The skier, who was not identified, found the wreckage of the Piper 28 Cherokee that crashed on Rollins Pass, said Cherokee Lake, spokeswoman for the Gilpin County sheriff’s office. The pass is 11,600 feet high.
The skier used a cell phone to notify rescuers, who reached the wreckage by snowmobile at nightfall, Lake said. They ferried out the injured, who were hospitalized in stable condition.
“They think an angel was sitting on their shoulder because they are all in very good condition,” said St. Anthony’s Central spokeswoman Beverly Lilly.
The pilot was identified as Gert Eberlein of Menlo Park, Calif. He and his two passengers, whose names were not released, were in good spirits, Lilly said.
The other two victims were described by Lilly as a mother and daughter from Palo Alto.
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