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When two kind-hearted mountain climbers heard reports of a dog crying for help near the summit of a treacherous Colorado mountain, the couple were determined to rescue her.
Trinity Smith and Sean Nichols had seen posts from other climbers on 14ers.com (a forum for climbers and enthusiasts of mountains with at least a 14,000 foot elevation) about a crying dog heard near the summit at Mt. Bross, they set out in search of the dog – and found her!
The couple spent several days climbing, calling for the dog for hours on end. Finally, they heard a faint bark. Nichols located the dog stuck on a large rock, grabbed her, and slid down with the emaciated dog on his lap.
It took several trips up the 14,177-foot Colorado mountain, but the climbers had finally located and rescued Chloe, a 14-year old dog who had been missing for more than a month.
Climber Trinity Smith posted the incredible news to Facebook:
“We got her!!!! After hours and hours of yelling and climbing Sean Nichols & I finally brought this sweet, scared, hungry girl down to safety. The poor baby was stuck up there for over a month. After coming back down with her, Chloe’s owner’s were patiently waiting to see if this was their dog that they had been missing for 6 weeks who had ran off with another neighborhood pup. They assumed after a month of searching that their 13 year old baby was gone forever. (This was the dog heard crying up on BROSS/Lincoln a couple days ago)”
Several miles away, near Breckenridge and Alma, her family had been searching for her for nearly 6 weeks. On August 10, Chloe, then a healthy 85-pound senior dog had escaped home and run off with a younger dog. The other dog had returned without Chloe.
After being stranded on a cliff for over a month, Chloe somehow survived, but was now a mere 26-pounds.
When news of the rescue went viral, Chloe’s owner, Larry Osborne rushed to meet the climbers in hopes that the dog they’d rescued was, in fact, his missing girl. By the time her rescuers reached a local store in town to buy food for the dog, he was already there waiting for the incredible reunion.
Osborne took Chloe to a veterinarian. Despite what she’d gone through, including losing nearly 60-pounds, she’s miraculously doing ok. Chloe is now back at home, sleeping, eating, and spending time with her family.
Osborne is beyond grateful to the community of climbers that heard Chloe’s cries for help and didn’t give up until they found her.
“It’s a really tight-knit community — but it’s really good to know that with all the bad in the world — there’s still a lot of good,” Osborne told 9News. “So I thank those guys a lot.”
