Two students died when climbing anchor failed on Colorado peak

Chaffee County officials confirmed Tuesday that an anchor failure caused the deaths of two college students on West Apostle Mountain.

Kaden Matsuda, 19, and Jackson Donlon, 20, died instantly from multiple blunt force injuries, an autopsy found, according to the Chaffee County Sheriff’s Office and coroner’s office. Their bodies were recovered the previous week in a snow-filled basin on the mountain, located roughly 100 miles southeast of Aspen.

The pair departed from the Colorado Mountain College campus in Leadville for a weekend climbing trip. Although they initially targeted Ice Mountain, a 13,958-foot peak, Sheriff Andy Rohrich stated the students appeared to switch their route to the 13,597-foot West Apostle Mountain.

Donlon was beginning a rappel from a rock anchor when it suffered a catastrophic failure, according to a sheriff’s office statement. The anchor was backed up by a metal spike and a secondary anchor, but both failed. Matsuda was attached to the same anchor points. Both climbers fell a long distance, though officials said the exact length remains unknown.

Rohrich noted that the heavy snowstorm that dumped up to two feet of snow on the area was not a direct factor in the anchor failure. He praised the students for their preparation and love of the outdoors.

“In most similar cases that have led to a devastating conclusion we find it easy to pick apart what was done wrong,” Rohrich said. “That was not the case with Kaden and Jackson.”

Matsuda, a resident of Ridgway, Colorado, was studying to become a wildland firefighter. Donlon, from Queensbury, New York, was studying outdoor recreation leadership. The students attended classes in Leadville, a city at 10,119 feet above sea level with a population of about 2,600. They began their hike in rain, which later turned into a severe snowstorm.