SUMMIT COUNTY, Colo. — A 29-year-old man was killed in a climbing accident in Officers Gulch this weekend, the Summit County Rescue Group said.
Rescuers said a friend reported the climber missing Saturday night. His body was found just before 8 a.m. Sunday in a boulder field at the base of a cliff known as Officers Wall, rescuers said.
Rescuers said the climber had told his friend Saturday morning that he would be doing a climb in Officers Gulch, which is off Interstate 70 near Copper Mountain. Around 5 p.m., he called the friend to say he was on a rock and headed back down shortly, rescuers said. When the friend had not heard from him later that evening, he drove to the area and found his friend's car still parked there. He called 911 to report him missing.
Rescue crews said the man's family was able to supply his last known location from a shared phone location app, as well as a video he had taken the day before.
"SCRG and SCSO extend their deepest condolences to all the loved ones of the deceased," rescuers said in a news release. "We would also like to note that the deceased and his family did several things right that helped us find him and bring him back to his family in a reasonably short period of time. By letting his friend know an expected return time, the subject ensured that a search began quickly and that searchers knew an approximate area to search. And by sending a video to his family and having a shared phone location app, he allowed searchers to pinpoint his location quickly once the family was able to share this information with us. These are practices other backcountry recreationists can learn from, and although this incident ended tragically, we also know that a search which continues for a long time or is unresolved altogether is an even more difficult situation for friends and family."
The coroner's office will identify the man and determine how he died.
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