A Canadian woman who bought a trip designed to gain personal revelation through a multiday wilderness fast is lucky to be alive after she spent nearly a week lost in the Uncompahgre National Forest without food. On its Facebook page, the San Miguel County Sheriff announced that Gina Chase was found Aug. 17, 2024.
Nearly 600 people shared the post. On a beautiful late-summer morning, Gina Chase’s 10-minute nature walk became a five-day slog for survival when she took a wrong turn and got disoriented. All she had with her was a bottle of water, a whistle, a raincoat and an old cellphone, according to searchers who found her.
Inside her day pack were a sleeping bag and tarp the same color green as the woods, according to the San Miguel County Sheriff’s Office. The 53-year-old was on a “reflective backcountry solo” outdoor experience, part of a group brought into the forest by a Durango New Age guide company. The Animas Institute advertises “soul initiation” through nature-based journeys.
It offers “soul initiation” trips like the one Chase was endeavoring led by “soul guides” that cost anywhere from $800 to $6,725 depending on the length of time and destination of each planned adventure. “I was shocked when I got to the site and found out that these people are instructed not to interact with one another,” said Miguel County Sheriff’s Sgt. Lane Masters, whose childhood in Telluride and Naval Survival School taught him the hazards of what he called “the unforgiving wilderness.
” Admittedly relieved, but unhappy with the circumstances, Masters gave the Animas Institute leaders a lecture once Chase was found alive. “What they do by design is going to get somebody killed.” Drone footage taken of an area near where hiker Gina Chase was missing shows how dense the vegetation is in that area of the Uncompahgre National Forest northwest of Telluride.
The nearest town is Norwood, Colorado. While Chase was lost, she was within reach. But her nature group’s maps and communication were handwritten, with “no GPS and no maps,” according to Masters.
This map shows the area where 72 searchers concentrated as they looked for Gina Chase, 53. The Canadian woman was in Colorado to take a spiritual fast into the wilderness with The Animas Institute, a New Age company which operates out of Durango. The company said they have not lost a hiker since it started operating in 1980.
Further, the group’s plan to keep up with each other was a method they refer to as a “proof of life stone” technique. “They had no GPS and no topographical map,” said Masters, who took a 48-hour shift of his own worried that a bear or mountain lion met Chase on the trail. Masters said that the institute recommends the color green for their sleeping bags and tarps.
“They do it to be at one with nature,” he said. “If it sounds ridiculous, it’s because it is.” Masters said that from above, the foliage is so dense and thick, Chase’s equipment was actually a hinder to the search operation because it provided camouflage and kept her hidden.
“Do you know how hard it is to find a green tarp in the woods at 9,000 feet?” said Masters, who is San Miguel County Sheriff Bill Masters’ son. In a YouTube program, Las Animas Institute founder Bill Plotkin explained that the foundation uses “ecopsychology” to help people find meaning in their lives. He explains the philosophy this way.
“It is the job of Animus Valley (sic) Institute to “prepare” people to transition out of the cocoon stage by a series of intense spiritual experiences that “get them in touch with their inner spirit world.” In 43 years guiding thousands of campers, no one has never died on any of their trips. In an email, the Animas Institute had a different version from Masters’ account of how Chase was outfitted.
“We want to clarify that Gina was not without food or communication tools,” said a woman who only identified as “Laura.” Laura emphasized that the group gives participants the option to fast, but that the practice is only voluntary and supported by medical screen protocols. “She (Chase) carried a fully functional cell phone with satellite capabilities and activated the SOS function when necessary,” the institute wrote.
“In addition to her phone, she was also carrying a pack that contained; rain jacket and pants, insulated jacket, emergency blankets, knife, fire starting supplies, a whistle, laminated emergency instructions, water, personal first aid kit, a flashlight and ground insulation.” Sheriff Masters said that if Chase had a satellite phone and attempted to contact the department, they never got the signal. Chase, who was one of a group of 11, was last seen taking off for the Lone Cone Trail on Aug.
13. Through extensive interviews, Masters deduced that Chase was about a mile away from the designated area where 64 searchers from nine agencies and half of San Miguel County Sheriff’s active duty deputies combed the tangled terrain. In a photo taken at the start of the multi-layered search, exhausted crews in head lamps and binoculars rode out the night in the incident command post, a package of Chips Ahoy and coffee on a nearby table for fuel.
By the weekend, a catering company from nearby Norwood was bringing food for the crews. Deputies who interviewed Chase said that she built a shelter against a tree and filtered her water from streams, a survival trick she told him that she learned from watching YouTube videos. “This was not like a kid who wandered from a campground,” said Sheriff Masters.
Chase declined a request for an interview, but in a joyful post on his Facebook page, her brother, Ben Chase, said that his sister had been found and was eating. “Gina We love you!!!!! Thank you for coming back !!!” Deputies said that the first thing Chase ate was a breakfast burrito. In a photo taken at the start of a multilayered search for missing hiker Gina Chase, exhausted crews in head lamps and binoculars ride out the night in the Incident Command Post with a package of Chips Ahoy and coffee on a nearby table for fuel.
Half of the active officers in the San Miguel Sheriff’s Office, plus 64 people from nine different agencies, participated in the successful search. Sheriff Masters estimated that Chase’s four-day search and rescue cost around $60,000 for aircraft with high-tech equipment and hundreds of volunteer and staff hours. The Animas Valley Institute promised him they would make a donation to help cover the costs.
Though he considered charging the institute, Masters said, “It’s debatable whether anyone could be held legally required to pay.” By Colorado state statute, sheriff’s departments are responsible for search and rescue in their counties. Colorado’s all-volunteer search and rescue teams do not charge for rescues because when people are afraid of getting billed, they delay calling and that can make things more dangerous for them and more difficult for the rescuers.
“It gets late, it gets dark, it gets colder, and perhaps injuries worsen,” said Anna DeBattiste of Colorado Search and Rescue. Instead, Colorado has been creative with finding funds to pay for rescue operations. The latest method is the new Keep Colorado Wild Pass, the state’s annual state park pass which is now included in annual vehicle registration fees.
A portion of each $29 fee goes toward Colorado Search and Rescue volunteers. Normally, an annual state park pass costs $80. A year in, it’s a plan which shows promise.
Last week, Colorado Parks and Wildlife announced that more than 1.5 million Colorado residents purchased the pass while registering their vehicles, providing $39.7 million of revenue for state parks and outdoor first responders.
The first $32.5 million will go toward park maintenance and development, the next $2.5 million toward search-and-rescue teams and $1 million will go to the Colorado Avalanche Information Center.
On Aug. 16, Chase’s backcountry solo group left their campsite. That night, a violent thunderstorm lowered Chase’s odds for survival.
Sunday, weary rescue teams brought cadaver dogs into the dense timber expecting to find a body. Instead, just as the final hopeful hours got short, a live person appeared in a clearing. Her soul-search abandoned in a desperate fight to survive, Chase followed the sun and found herself near the Lone Cone Trailhead south of Norwood.
Half of the San Miguel Sheriff Department’s active officers plus 64 people from 9 different agencies participated in the successful search of Gina Chase, who took a wrong turn during a spiritual quest Aug. 13, 2024. She walked out of the forst the morning of Aug.
17, 2024. The Animas Institute’s Plotkin describes the work they do as “exciting and terrifying,” but, in her email, Laura said that the program will conduct a thorough and independent review of the Chase incident. Relieved that Chase was found, the institute thanked searchers and said that they “will continue to work closely with all relevant authorities to maintain the trust and safety of our community.
” On its Facebook page, the San Miguel County Sheriff’s Office announced that Chase was found Aug. 17. Nearly 600 people shared the post.
Lane Masters had to gather himself as he offered a soul reflection of his own. “It’s always humbling for me to see people dedicating their lives to a stranger. They’re absolute heroes,” he said.
“This can’t happen again.”.
