Hiker dies after plunging 300 feet down mountainside in Rocky Mountain National Park
UPDATE: The 21-year-old hiker’s body was recovered via helicopter Monday, Aug. 14. Officials flew her body to Upper Beaver Meadows and took it to the Boulder County Coroner’s Office, according to the National Park Service.
The original story is below.
A 21-year-old hiker died after she plunged 300 feet down a steep gully on a mountainside in Rocky Mountain National Park, officials said.
She was heading down the Flying Dutchman couloir above Chasm Lake with a 25-year-old from San Angelo, Texas, who also fell and was critically injured Saturday, Aug. 12, National Park Service officials said in an Aug. 13 news release.
Bystanders who’d seen the fall called park rangers for help and activated a personal locator beacon so first responders could find the area between Longs Peak and Mount Meeker, officials said.
When they arrived, first responders started treating the injured hiker where he’d fallen. But it quickly became apparent his injuries were so severe he would need treatment at a medical center, so they called the Colorado Air National Guard for help, officials said.
First responders hoisted him into a helicopter and flew him about 35 miles northeast to Medical Center of the Rockies in Loveland.
Because of bad weather that night and on Sunday, search and rescue teams weren’t able to recover the other hiker’s body by Sunday night, officials said. They’ll try again Monday depending on weather and available resources.
The Boulder County coroner will release her name after they notify her family, officials said. She was from Severance, Colorado, about 60 miles north of Denver, officials said.
Another hiker was injured in a fall late Friday afternoon Aug. 11, officials said. In that separate incident, a 64-year-old man from College Station, Texas, tumbled 60 feet down from the Ledges along the Keyhole Route on Longs Peak, officials said.
A bystander gave him “critical care” until park rangers arrived and took over after midnight, officials said. The Colorado Air National Guard flew the injured hiker to the Medical Center of the Rockies.
Information about his condition was not released.
San Angelo is in central Texas, about 205 miles northwest of Austin, and College Station is about 95 miles northwest of Houston.
13-year-old boy plunges 100 feet over edge of Grand Canyon’s North Rim — and survives
Man dies after hikers find him unresponsive by Rocky Mountain National Park trailhead
Climber dies after 300-foot fall from mountain into rocky ravine, Oregon cops say
