Woman Lost for 4 Days in Colorado Mountains Is Rescued

U.S.|Woman Lost for 4 Days in Colorado Mountains Is Rescued

A Canadian woman was rescued over the weekend after she got lost in the Colorado mountains for four days as part of a guided spiritual “quest,” according to a local sheriff’s department, which said that participants had been encouraged to fast and discouraged from bringing cellphones.

The woman, Gina Chase, 53, of Victoria, British Columbia, was camping near the San Miguel Mountains of Colorado with 10 others through the Animas Valley Institute, an organization based in Durango, Colo., that emphasizes the spiritual value of being alone in nature, the San Miguel County Sheriff’s Office said in a Facebook post. Around 11 a.m. on Aug. 14, Ms. Chase embarked on a “solo journey” near Lone Cone Peak but was reported missing around 2 p.m. the next day after she did not return to camp, the sheriff’s office said.

On Saturday, after a multiday search that included K9 teams, aircrafts and drones, Ms. Chase was found “alive and uninjured,” officials said.

“Ms. Chase was part of a group of campers who, by design, set off alone into the backcountry without their cellphones and then fasting ‘to maximize their experience with nature,’” the authorities said in their post.

On Facebook, the Animas Valley Institute sought to clarify that it “is not a ‘spiritual camp,’” that “fasting is always optional and health-dependent,” that participants are required to carry a “signaling device” and that the group “will be initiating a thorough review of this incident that will include independent expertise.”

Animas did not respond to specific questions about the program that Ms. Chase was on, including whether there was fasting, and instead referred to its Facebook post.