Search and rescue teams have recovered the body of a 21-year-old hiker who fell 800 feet to his death while trying to navigate a technical traverse 20 miles southwest of Telluride, the San Miguel County Sheriff’s Office said Thursday.
The search began Tuesday after the Arizona man was reported overdue from hiking the ridge between 14,000-foot peaks El Diente and Mount Wilson, the sheriff’s office said in a social media post. The man, who was described as an experienced climber, has not yet been publicly identified.
The man fell into the upper Kilpacker Basin and his body, officials said, was recovered after a two-day search that involved aviation assets from three agencies.
News of the hiker’s death came hours after the Grand County Sheriff’s Office reported finding the body of a climber who died while hiking Lone Eagle Peak in the Indian Peaks Wilderness, west of Denver.
Search and rescue teams began looking for the man Tuesday morning after dispatch received a call about an overdue climber in the Lone Eagle Peak area near Crater Lake in the Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests, the sheriff’s office said.
The man’s route included hiking from Brainard Lake, which is west of Ward, to Pawnee Pass, to Crater Lake, up Lone Eagle Peak and then across to Apache Peak before returning to Brainard, the sheriff’s office said.
Hikers near Lone Eagle Peak, which is at 11,946 feet, found his body at 12:15 p.m. Tuesday, but rescuers couldn’t reach his body due to weather and challenges reaching the area.
A Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control helicopter flew out of Cañon City at 6 a.m. Wednesday, picked up four Rocky Mountain Rescue Group technical rope specialists in Boulder and then flew to the base of Lone Eagle Peak, the sheriff’s office said.
Rescue teams recovered the man’s body about 1 p.m. His name will be released by the Grand County Coroner’s Office.