Plane crashes near Apex

Lynn Volkens

05/15/2008 - Gilpin County was the scene of tragedy last Thursday, May 8^th, when a single-engine Cessna airplane crashed above Apex around 4:00 p.m. The pilot, 47 year old Barry Maggert of Carbondale, died of his injuries at the crash site. The scene was also one of triumph in human spirit and effort, as multiple agencies coordinated efforts to successfully rescue Jonathon Holton, Maggert’s 23 year-old passenger of the plane. The men had been en route from Glenwood Springs to Boulder for Maggert’s son’s graduation at CU. It isn’t known yet what caused the plane to go down; however turbulent high winds in the area may have contributed. The pilot reported he was losing altitude and engine power at about 3:45 p.m., then dropped off radar.

   The plane came to rest above 10,000 feet, in the heavy pine forest of Montana Mountain about four miles west of Black Hawk, just above Miner’s Gulch. Holton was able to call 911 on his cell phone, but didn’t know his location. That was determined by triangulation of his cell phone signal to a cell tower located near Central City. The wreckage was spotted by a Denver Channel 7 helicopter and a Civil Air Patrol plane. Gilpin Deputy Christian Martin, was the first responder but said he was able to drive only about as far as the old Gilpin town of Apex. Miner’s Gulch Road is not used or maintained through the winter, and still lay under six feet of snow.  It would later take snowmobiles, a Snow Cat, a television news helicopter, a Civil Air Patrol spotter plane and the Colorado National Guard to accomplish the rescue and recovery, all under the eyes and cameras of every Denver television news crew. “How long do you anticipate being here?” asked one Denver reporter, “I mean, are you planning to go into the night?” Bill Barwick of Alpine Rescue responded, “We’ll be here ‘til we get to them.”  

   Emergency responders had arrived from the Gilpin Sheriff’s Office and Road & Bridge Department, Gilpin Search & Rescue, Gilpin Ambulance, Central City Fire, Police and Public Works Departments, Clear Creek Sheriff’s Office, Rocky Mountain Rescue (Boulder) and Alpine Rescue (Evergreen). Gilpin County Sheriff Bruce Hartman, set up a command center near Apex to coordinate the activities of about 45 rescue personnel and later moved it to the Boodle Mill to enhance radio communications. Responders brought with them vehicles and equipment needed for a snow rescue in steep terrain, however the plane’s location was in country so steep, neither snowmobile nor Snow Cat could reach it. The Colorado National Guard from Buckley Air Force Base later airlifted rescuers up the mountain and lowered them from a hovering Black Hawk helicopter. At around 7:00 p.m., Holton was brought down in the Black Hawk, transferred to a Flight for Life medical chopper and taken to Saint Anthony’s Central Hospital. He sustained shoulder/collarbone injuries and a broken ankle. Cherokee Blake, of Gilpin Sheriff’s Office, said Holton did everything right for a positive outcome. Despite being injured, cold and frightened, he checked in with rescuers via cell phone every fifteen minutes and was attempting CPR on the pilot. Once rescuers made it to the site, they found Maggert had died. Gilpin County Coroner Zane Laubhan walked into crash site Thursday evening and pronounced Maggert dead at the scene. The pilot’s head injuries were not survivable, Laubhan said, estimating the time of death at half an hour after the wreck. Recovery of his body would wait until daylight. Meanwhile, Gilpin Road and Bridge crewmen, along with those of Central City’s Public Works Department, continued clearing the road, pushing their way through an average of five-six feet of snow, and up to nine in some places. They quit around midnight, then returned to put in another eight hours on Friday. Blake said the recovery of Maggert’s body took about four hours, requiring the recovery team to take a route along Mosquito Creek via Snow Cat, then snowshoe the rest of the way to the site. The recovery was completed by 6:00 p.m.

   The wreckage will remain on the mountain until the snow is gone and the site can be accessed. It may need to wait until summer. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and the Federal Aviation Administration spent the weekend conducting their site investigation. Their preliminary report is expected by week’s end. Their “Factual Report” will come six to nine months from now, followed by their determination of probable cause, three months after that. Blake, who put in 33 hours in two days, said she was also working on reports. “The whole thing just amazed me, how fast it came together,” she said of the interagency cooperation.

   Maggert’s family has issued a statement thanking all responders and asking that folks make donations to any of these agencies, in Maggert’s memory.