Deputies Rescue Campers Stalked by Mountain Lion at St. Mary's Glacier

One camper was left lying still inside his tent at midnight while something large moved along the outside wall. His partner had already scrambled down from the backcountry above St. Mary's Glacier to flag down help at the trailhead parking lot. That split decision on the night of April 2 triggered a technical evacuation that pushed two Clear Creek County deputies nearly a mile into blizzard conditions and put both campers back on safe ground before the night was over.

Sgt. Nick Aab and Deputy Adam Bertrand got the call just before 10 p.m. They drove an ATV to the St. Mary's Glacier Trailhead, where the first camper was waiting to guide them. The trail stopped the ATV cold from there, so the two deputies continued on foot, navigating rocky terrain through snow and high winds, arriving at the campsite around midnight.

What they found was a young man who had spent the intervening hours motionless inside his tent while something pressed and moved against it from outside. "One of the gentlemen up there saw something pushing into his tent, kind of into the door there," Bertrand said. "He could hear some things kind of moving around his tent. It sounds like brushing up against the side of it." The camper described his visitor to deputies as a "big cat with claws and teeth."

Aab and Bertrand searched the immediate area but never located the animal. The priority was the campers, not the cat, and both men were brought safely off the glacier. The sheriff's office later framed the operation with a pointed mix of self-deprecation and caution: "We admire Alpine Rescue Team so much that we wanted to be like them," noting that the cold midnight trek on rocky terrain "proved WHY we leave backcountry rescues to experts."

Whether the animal was definitively a mountain lion was never confirmed. The sheriff's account included no physical evidence, and deputies reported "what the campers initially believed to be a mountain lion." That distinction matters for how you interpret the risk, but it changes nothing about the correct response. Something large circling a tent and pressing against it at night in remote snow country demands the same reaction regardless of species.

St. Mary's Glacier sits in Arapaho National Forest at roughly 11,000 feet, and in early April it is still full winter above the trailhead: limited cell coverage across most of the camping zone, snow-covered rock, and sustained winds. The site draws consistent Front Range foot traffic as one of the most accessible year-round snow destinations near Idaho Springs, which makes it exactly the kind of place where visitors underestimate how fast conditions can isolate a campsite.

If you're planning a backcountry night anywhere in Colorado's mountain corridors this spring, the operational lessons from this rescue are specific. Never separate without a clear plan: in this case, one camper hiking out while the other held position worked because the stationary camper was findable. When you reach dispatch, lead with your last known trailhead, the approximate trail distance to your site, and current terrain conditions so responders can stage the right equipment. If something large is circling your camp, do not pursue it. Hold your ground, make noise, raise your arms to appear larger, and if you need to move, back slowly toward your group or vehicle without running. Running converts a circling predator into a pursuing one.

The two campers at St. Mary's Glacier did both critical things correctly: one got out to call for help while the other stayed put. That combination is what let Aab and Bertrand walk them both off the mountain.