A 21-year-old Colorado woman died Saturday in Rocky Mountain National Park, and two men were critically injured over the weekend in two separate falls that required helicopter rescues.
The woman, who was from Severance, fell approximately 300 feet while she and a partner were descending the Flying Dutchman couloir between Longs Peak and Mount Meeker, according to a news release from the National Park Service. The Flying Dutchman stretches across a snowy, icy and rocky 1,600-foot path from the west end of Chasm Lake to the north end of the Loft.
Her body had not been removed from the mountains as of Sunday evening because of weather conditions. Officials hoped to recover her on Monday, weather and resources permitting, the news release said.
Her death is under investigation. The Boulder County coroner’s office will release the woman’s identity once next-of-kin have been notified.
A 25-year-old man from San Angelo, Texas, who was climbing with the woman also fell 300 feet down the couloir and suffered critical injuries, the news release stated. He was rescued in a hoist operation on Saturday night via a Colorado Air National Guard helicopter from Buckley Air Force Base. A Flight for Life air ambulance met the National Guard helicopter in Beaver Meadows and took him to the Medical Center of the Rockies in Loveland.
Park visitors in the area saw the woman and the man fall and called for help with their cellphones and by activating a personal locator beacon. Park rangers, a park paramedic and an Estes Park Health paramedic treated the man on scene before he was extricated from the couloir, the news release said.
A 64-year-old man from College Station, Texas, on Friday afternoon tumbled 60 feet above the Ledges of the Keyhole Route on Longs Peak and suffered critical injuries, the news release said.
A fellow mountain climber cared for him until park rangers arrived. A Colorado Air National Guard helicopter from Buckley Air Force Base was called to extricate the man from the mountain and he was then transferred to a Flight for Life air ambulance. He also was taken to the Medical Center of the Rockies, the news release said.
The Rocky Mountain National Park Search and Rescue team participated in both rescues.
In July, 26-year-old Bailee Mullholland of Boulder died after falling 500 feet while climbing Blitzen Ridge on Ypsilon Mountain in the park. She had scrambled, without ropes, up a 500-foot, jagged mountain and was crossing a ridge when she slipped, according to news reports.
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