SUMMIT COUNTY, Colo. — A rescue group found the body of a missing 29-year-old climber in the area of Officers Gulch along Interstate 70 in Summit County over the weekend.
The Summit County Rescue Group (SCRG) initially learned about the missing person when a friend of his called police to report him missing on the evening of Sept. 2. The friend knew the climber was going to explore Officers Gulch that morning, but did not provide an exact location. Around 5 p.m. that afternoon, the climber called his friend to say he was headed down from his route shortly and would return around 6:30 p.m., SCRG said.
When the friend had not heard from him later that evening, he drove to Officers Gulch, where he saw his friend's car. That's when he called for help.
Eight people with SCRG responded around 11:30 p.m. to search for the missing climber. They looked along the bike path between Officers Gulch and Frisco and along a climbers' trail known as Halfway Rock, SCRG said. Around 2 a.m., the rescue group decided to pause their efforts and begin again at first light.
At 6 a.m. on Sept. 3, 19 members of SCRG picked up the search again. The Summit County Sheriff’s Office (SCSO) also joined in and flew a drone over the area.
The climber's family provided a last known location from a shared phone location app, along with a video from Sept. 2. SCRG said this was an enormous help identifying where the man had been.
At 7:50 a.m., two rescuers found the missing man's body at the bottom of a cliff known as Officers Wall, SCRG said.
Following an investigation by the sheriff's office special operations unit, a group of rescuers set up a system to retrieve his body. This operation was completed around noon.
The climber has not yet been identified by the Summit County Coroner's Office.
Both the rescue group and sheriff's office noted that the climber and his family did several things that helped rescuers find him quickly.
"By letting his friend know an expected return time, the subject ensured that a search began quickly and that searchers knew an approximate area to search in," SCRG said. "And by sending a video to his family and having a shared phone location app, he allowed searchers to pinpoint his location quickly once the family was able to share this information with us. These are practices other backcountry recreationists can learn from, and although this incident ended tragically, we also know that a search which continues for a long time or is unresolved altogether is an even more difficult situation for friends and family."
