Two college students who were found dead after a Colorado snowstorm were a trainee wildland firefighter and a mountain guide
Kaden Matsuda and Jackson Donlon, the two Colorado Mountain College students found dead on West Apostle Mountain after leaving their Leadville campus on Friday 23 October.
Kaden Matsuda, 19, of Ridgway, Colorado, and Jackson Donlon, 20, of Queensbury, New York, set out from Colorado Mountain College's Leadville campus on 23 October for a weekend climb of Ice Mountain, a nearly 14,000-foot peak requiring technical experience. A severe snowstorm struck on Saturday afternoon, dumping up to two feet of snow, and their bodies were found lying next to each other in a basin of West Apostle Mountain on Wednesday by a team of 60 search and rescue volunteers from six counties.
Sheriff Andy Rohrich called the discovery 'a gut punch' but said finding them before a further incoming storm gave families 'some closure'.
Ice Mountain is described as 'a very technical climb' recommended only for highly experienced hikers — and that is 'when it is dry', authorities noted.
No foul play is suspected; autopsies are pending before investigators will offer any theory on cause of death.
