The pinnacles and ridges of the Continental Divide as it passes through the Indian Peaks Wilderness create one of the most dramatic panoramas in northern Colorado. Distinctive and visible from many vantage points along the Front Range, they are alluring for those seeking high adventure at a high altitude.

But they also can be dangerous.

Its many risky sections haven’t deterred uber athletes in recent years from attempting a traverse called the LA Freeway, a hazardous and highly technical 34-mile route over steep mountains and exposed ridgelines, many above 12,000 feet, that extends from Longs Peak in Rocky Mountain National Park at the north end to the twin Arapaho Peaks at the south end.

On Aug. 31, Anton Krupicka of Boulder set the “fastest known time,” as records are called in this genre of mountaineering, by completing the journey in 13 hours, 20 minutes, 48 seconds. His GPS put the distance at 33.9 miles with more than 18,000 feet of climbing.

That same day, however, a climber got stuck on a technical section of 12,989-foot Mount Toll near Brainard Lake and had to be rescued by the Rocky Mountain Rescue Group, a volunteer search-and-rescue team that covers Boulder County. It was their third mission in the Indian Peaks section of the LA Freeway that week. One involved a fatality.

The growing popularity of high-alpine ultrarunning is fueling interest in the LA Freeway — the L comes from the start at Longs Peak, the A from the finish at the Arapaho Peaks — according to Drew Hildner, a public information officer for the rescue group.

“There’s a lot of crossover between climbing and ultrarunning,” Hildner said. “We’re seeing many more people, ropeless, scrambling and climbing in the alpine (terrain). We started calling that sky running, running across ridgelines and scrambling up high. If you don’t have to carry a really heavy rack (of climbing hardware), and you don’t have to carry a rope or climbing shoes, you can move much faster and have a more fun day moving quickly through this beautiful terrain.”

Very little of the route is actually runnable, though, according to Bill Wright, founder of a climbing and running group based in the Flatirons known as Satan’s Minions.

“It’s too technical,” said Wright, who has done every section of the route — but not continuously. “There is no trail; you’re just on a really rocky ridge, and a lot of sections are rock climbs that most people would need a rope on. There are multiple sections where, if you slip or make a mistake, you’re going to fall to your death.”

Of the three missions Rocky Mountain Rescue Group conducted in the last week of August that involved the LA Freeway, one turned out to be an overdue party who was never actually in trouble. They did initiate an aerial search, however, via medevac helicopter over the ridge that evening.

“Without knowing the patient’s location, that’s just a nightmare scenario for searchers — in technical terrain, spanning a huge amount of territory,” Hildner said. “Fortunately the person had bailed early and walked out to a trailhead. It had just taken them awhile to get cellphone service to be able to call loved ones.”

The next operation had a heartbreaking ending when searchers discovered the body of a hiker who fell 300 to 400 feet on Arikaree Peak.

On Aug. 28, the Rocky Mountain Rescue Group, Grand County Search and Rescue, Grand County Sheriff’s Office, Boulder County Emergency Services, the Colorado Hoist (helicopter) Rescue Team, Colorado Search and Rescue and Colorado Army National Guard mobilized to search for the missing hiker. After the victim was located by helicopter, a physician determined from the air that he did not survive the fall, according to a news release from the Grand County Sheriff’s Office this week.

The victim had been hiking with a friend who did not see him fall. Hildner surmises the accident was the result of either a “slip-fall” or a handhold that broke off a rock feature. Another peril of the LA Freeway is the presence of loose and broken rock.

The body of the victim has not been recovered. A second attempt at recovery was made on Sept. 6, according to the release from the Grand County Sheriff, which had jurisdiction because the ridge forms the border between Grand and Boulder counties and the victim fell on the Grand County side. That recovery mission was called off because of dangerous terrain.

“Our teams made every possible effort to safely reach the site of the fall, but conditions remain too dangerous for us to proceed. The safety of our personnel must come first,” said Greg Foley, Grand County Search and Rescue field director, according to the release. “This incident underscores the dangers of backcountry travel in technical terrain and the extreme challenges of rescue operations in such remote areas.”

It was the second fatality in the Indian Peaks that week. The day before, the body of an overdue hiker was recovered in a scree field below Shoshoni Peak, according to the Boulder County Sheriff’s office.

The third rescue operation that week on the LA Freeway occurred on Aug. 31 when a climber got his foot stuck in a crack on the north side of Mount Toll. Krupicka witnessed the operation about eight and a half hours into his record traverse when he got to the base of Mount Toll and saw the helicopter. The stranded climber was climbing a highly technical crack when his foot got wedged. According to Hildner, Rocky Mountain Rescue Group dispatched two members who were taken to the scene on a medevac helicopter. They climbed technical rock to reach the climber and built an anchor.

“One of them lowered down and performed what we call a ‘pick off,’ where you put a harness on the patient, you fix them to your rope and lower them off, out of technical terrain,” Hildner said.

Because the climber could not walk, he and the rescuer were then hoisted from scene by a different helicopter from the Colorado Army National Guard.

Hildner says some of the trouble on the LA Freeway stems from climbers being unprepared for the terrain, not having done sufficient research and getting in over their heads. But even experienced climbers can get into trouble up there.

“A lot of it is an elite mountain athlete mindset of … ‘It’s not going to happen to me.’” Hildner said. “My feeling is that a lot of this is getting normalized. It can start to feel casual, just like soloing the Flatirons. People need to recognize that it’s still alpine climbing on the Continental Divide at 12,000 feet. Three times in one week we utilized helicopter assets heavily for these searches and these rescues.”

Those who tackle the LA Freeway also need to understand that help may be a long time in coming, Hildner stressed, adding that they should carry a satellite messaging device or a phone with SOS capability.

“We’re happy to come rescue you, we’re not telling you not to do it, but it is important that you are self-sufficient and that you are prepared,” Hildner said. “Because it is in the alpine (high-altitude environment), people are skimping on the things that they’re bringing so they can go fast and light. Certainly speed (imparts) its own safety in the alpine, but the reality is — and the surprise that some of these patients have had — that it takes hours to get to someone even by helicopter.”