As a snowy chute on the side of Kings Peak came into view through Sgt. 1st Class Zach Kesler’s night vision goggles, he thought, “Wow, I’m about to be on that hill with those guys.”
“What am I about to see?” he remembered wondering, unsure of the condition of one of the men on the mountain.
He gathered his medical and rescue gear and descended from a Black Hawk helicopter to help a 22-year-old hiker who had fallen 200 yards down a steep chute in the Uinta Mountains about 10 p.m. on Wednesday night.
And he was cold, with 8 inches of snow on the slope, according to the Summit County Sheriff’s Office’s Lt.