Leadville, Colorado: Two College Hikers Found Dead After Ice Mountain Snowstorm

Two Colorado Mountain College students who went missing on a weekend hiking trip were found dead on Wednesday afternoon in the high country of Chaffee County, ending a search that drew about 60 rescuers, dogs, drones and helicopters into snowbound terrain, the Chaffee County Sheriff's Office said.

Kaden Matsuda, 19, of Ridgway, Colorado, and Jackson Donlon, 20, of New York, were found near each other at about 3:30 p.m. in a basin of West Apostle Mountain, according to the sheriff's office. The office said foul play is not suspected and that it would not offer theories about what happened until autopsies are completed.

A weekend trip that did not end on Sunday

Matsuda and Donlon left the college's Leadville campus on Friday, Oct. 23, and told friends and family they planned to climb Ice Mountain, a peak of nearly 14,000 feet northwest of Buena Vista. The sheriff's office described Ice Mountain as a very technical climb recommended only for advanced hikers. Friends and family described both students as experienced hikers and climbers, and the two had shared a map showing their intended destination, with the Mt. Huron trailhead near Winfield circled.

The students were expected back on Saturday, Oct. 24, or Sunday, Oct. 25. When they had not returned, college staff reported them missing at about 10 a.m. on Monday, Oct. 26. Deputies found Matsuda's vehicle at the trailhead.

Snow closed in on the search

A storm swept the area over the weekend and covered the mountain in ice and 1 to 2 feet of snow, the sheriff's office said. Searchers had to cross boulder fields buried under that snow, which the office called extremely dangerous and close to impossible on foot, and there was nowhere on the mountain where a helicopter could land to bring crews in.

On Tuesday, Oct. 27, a helicopter crew found a tent collapsed under the snow near a lake northwest of Ice Mountain, with the students' sleeping bags, a stove and clothing inside. The students were not there. Based on the tent's location, officials said the pair appeared to have been aiming for West Apostle Mountain, which rises to 13,597 feet.

Search teams kept working into Wednesday, ahead of another storm expected this weekend. Their bodies were found that afternoon in the West Apostle basin.

Sheriff asks for space for the families

“Our heart aches for Kaden and Jackson's family and friends. We are very proud of our team's efforts to find them before this weekend's coming storm,” Sheriff Andy Rohrich said in a statement. “Although this is a gut punch, our prayers were answered that we would find Kaden and Jackson, allowing some closure for the family. We ask that everyone give time and distance to family members and friends as they mourn their loss.”

The sheriff's office said the causes of death remain under investigation. Autopsies will be performed, and the office said it will not speculate about what happened on the mountain before those results are in.

For Colorado Mountain College in Leadville, the loss reaches the whole campus. What the record shows so far is a plan, a storm that changed the mountain within a day, and a search that found their tent before it found them.