Two Colorado students, Jackson Donlon and Kaden Matsuda, have frozen to death after getting caught in a snowstorm on Ice Mountain.
The young men set out on October 30 to climb the Ice Mountain massif before disappearing, according to a report by The New York Post. Search and rescue personnel later determined that Donlon, a 20-year-old native of New York, and Matsuda, 19, had become trapped in a severe snowstorm during the ascent.
Climbers later came across their bodies lying in a mountain basin.
Challenging conditions on Ice Mountain
Ice Mountain stands at an elevation of 13,958 feet in the Sawatch Range of the Rocky Mountains, located in central Colorado. Positioned within the Collegiate Peaks Wilderness, the summit is renowned among mountaineers as a particularly demanding objective. Unlike many of Colorado's popular peaks, the ascent requires extensive scrambling across steep, loose scree and narrow couloirs that offer minimal shelter when severe weather hits.
High-elevation weather across the central Colorado Rockies is known to deteriorate with little warning, especially during late autumn. Storm systems moving across the Continental Divide can bring gale-force winds, sudden heavy snowfall, and sub-zero temperatures, quickly leaving hikers vulnerable to hypothermia and disorientation in treacherous alpine terrain.
Backcountry safety and previous incidents
Search and recovery efforts in the area fall under the jurisdiction of the Chaffee County Sheriff's Office, which works alongside regional volunteer search and rescue teams to respond to wilderness emergencies across thousands of square miles of mountainous public land. County emergency agencies frequently remind backcountry visitors that autumn conditions in the high country resemble full winter, requiring specialized alpine equipment and thermal protection.
The deaths on Ice Mountain underscore the lethal danger posed by early winter storms in the American wilderness. The New York Post reported that in an earlier incident, a 61-year-old hiker also lost his life after being caught in a snowstorm during a trek in the United States.
Mountaineering groups advise anyone traveling into the Colorado backcountry during late autumn to monitor high-altitude forecasts, carry emergency shelter and navigation beacons, and turn back immediately at the first sign of gathering storm clouds.
