July 10, 2022
On Sunday night July 10, 2022, Saguache County Search and Rescue received a report of an overdue 41 year-old male climber in the Kit Carson / Challenger Point area. Luis Corkern was reported to have ascended Kit Carson via the north ridge route on Saturday July 9th, making the summit at approximately 4pm. He planned to descend via the Challenger Point summit and the standard route, but did not return to his vehicle at the trailhead. Custer County SAR, with help from DFPC Canon Helitack and Reach Air Medical inserted 3 ground teams early Monday morning 7-11-22. After searching for several hours, the weather conditions in the area deteriorated and the search was suspended for the day. On Tuesday morning 7-12-22, a CCSAR search team in a DFPC helicopter spotted the subject near the Kirk Couloir having not survived a fall. A technical team was inserted to recover the Mr. Corkern from the mountain. All teams returned to base by 1500.
