Two Colorado students found dead after disappear while hiking in the Rocky Mountains last weekend when a heavy snowstorm hit, authorities said.
The bodies of Kaden Matsuda, 19, of Ridgway, Colorado, and Jackson Donlon, 20, of Queensbury, New York, were found Wednesday afternoon in a pool on West Apostle Mountain, about 100 miles southeast of Aspen, the Chaffee County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement posted on social media.
They left the Colorado Mountain College campus in Leadville on Friday, telling family and friends they planned to climb Ice Mountain, a nearly 14,000-foot (4,270-meter) peak near West Apostle Mountain that requires technical climbing, the sheriff’s office said. They were expected on Sunday, but college staff reported them missing Monday morning.
The sheriff’s office said the cause of their deaths was under investigation, but foul play was not suspected. Authorities said they would not offer theories about what might have happened until autopsies were completed.
“Our hearts ache for the family and friends of Kaden and Jackson,” Sheriff Andy Rohrich said in a statement Wednesday evening. “We are very proud of our team’s efforts to find them before this weekend’s upcoming storm. Although it was a gut punch, our prayers were answered that we would find Kaden and Jackson, giving the family closure.”
Rohrich said in a telephone interview Thursday morning that the men’s bodies remained in the basin and that authorities were waiting for wind gusts to subside so a helicopter crew could go to the site to retrieve them.
Around 60 search and rescue volunteers, aided by helicopters, drones and dogs, searched for the two men.
The helicopter crew discovered a collapsed tent in the snow Tuesday with their sleeping bags, a stove and clothes near a lake northwest of Ice Mountain — but the students were nowhere to be found.
Based on the location of the tent, Rohrich said it appeared Matsuda and Donlon had changed their plans and were targeting West Apostle Mountain, at 13,597 feet (4,144 meters), instead of Ice Mountain. He said the location of the bodies indicated they were hiking when they died.
Friends and family described both as experienced hikers and climbers.
The sheriff’s office said their climbing gear was not in their dorm, tent or vehicle, suggesting they left their tent prepared for technical climbing. Trash inside the tent indicated they had eaten before starting their hike, officials said.
Matsuda was studying to become a wildland firefighter and Donlon was studying to become a mountain guide, Rohrich said.
Authorities feared that aerial searches could be limited in the coming days due to bad weather expected to begin Friday.
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Associated Press writer Wufei Yu in Phoenix contributed.
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