Viral Overload

UST AFTER 10 A.M. on Monday, April 6, I was seated in the command center at Vail Mountain Rescue Group, Eagle County’s all-volunteer search and rescue (SAR) team, careful to maintain my social distance from the other responders. Earlier that morning, a local contractor had called 911 to report that one of his employees hadn’t shown up for work. The overdue subject, a male in his fifties, had texted his boss on Saturday evening, saying he was exhausted after skinning up Meadow Mountain, a returned-to-wilderness ski area between the resorts in Vail and Beaver Creek, and was going to hunker down in a snow cave for the night. More than