Free Solo Climber Falls 500 Feet To Her Death At Colorado's Rocky Mountain National Park
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A Boulder, Colorado, woman died Sunday while free solo climbing a ridge at Rocky Mountain National Park — and falling approximately 500 feet. The 26-year-old was found on Ypsilon Mountain at the Four Aces of Blitzen Ridge after her partner called for help.
“A 27-year-old male climbing partner, also from Boulder, notified park rangers, via cell phone, of her fall,” the National Park Service (NPS) said Monday. “Rocky Mountain National Park Search and Rescue Team members were able to reach him last night.”
“Because of his location, the park requested assistance from a Colorado Air National Guard helicopter from Buckley Air Force Base to extricate the male climbing partner via a hoist operation, using a winch operated cable,” the news release continued. “He was uninjured.”
The body of the woman, whose name has not been released, was flown to a helicopter landing spot in the Upper Beaver Meadows area of the park by Helitack, an interagency comprising members of the U.S. Forest Service, Fish & Wildlife Service, Boulder County, City of Boulder and the NPS.
The park service added the Larimer County Medical Examiner’s Office will determine the climber’s cause of death, and that her identity will be made public after the woman’s family has been notified. The agency announced another death at the park mere days earlier.
The woman's death marked the second fatality at Rocky Mountain National Park in one week.
Climbing without safety rope was once incredibly niche, but has reportedly grown in popularity due to “Free Solo” (2018), an Oscar-winning documentary about Alex Honnold — who scaled Yosemite’s El Capitan in 2017.
Free soloists typically use climbing chalk, which is reportedly made of the same magnesium carbonate weightlifters use for better grip. It was first introduced to climbers in the 1950s by John Gill, a prior gymnast christened by many outlets as the American “father” of the sport.
“Climbing with a rope is a largely physical effort,” Honnold told NPR’s “TED Radio Hour” in 2019. “You just have to be strong enough to hold on and make the movements upward. But free soloing plays out more in the mind. Your body is still climbing the same wall.”
“But staying calm and performing at your best when you know that any mistake could mean death requires a certain kind of mindset,” he continued.
