Authorities have determined that a likely cause in the fatal fall of two Colorado Mountain College students last week was a rock anchor giving way during their rappelling descent. The incident resulted in the deaths of Kaden Matsuda, 19, and Jackson Donlon, 20.
The Chaffee County Sheriff's Office announced that Donlon was rappelling from an anchor point when the rock likely failed, causing both students, who were attached to the same anchor, to fall. The exact distance of the fall has not been determined.
Deputies found the students dead in a snow-filled basin on West Apostle Mountain after they failed to return from a weekend climbing trip. Autopsies confirmed that both died instantly from multiple blunt force injuries. Investigators ruled out a severe snowstorm as a direct cause of their deaths.
Investigators found no obvious errors in the students' preparation for the climb. Chaffee County Sheriff Andy Rohrich stated that unlike other similar tragic cases, "there is also relief knowing neither of them suffered."
Matsuda was studying to become a wildland firefighter, and Donlon was pursuing a degree in outdoor recreation leadership. Matsuda was from Ridgway, Colorado, and Donlon was from Queensbury, New York. Both shared a passion for the outdoors.
This incident follows other recent fatal climbing accidents, including the death of rock climber Jake Whisenant in California's Sequoia National Park and the fall of three Latvian mountaineers near Denali Pass in Alaska.